Backroads reviewed a book.
Rosetta, Rosetta, Sit by Me!
“This was a tough book for me when it came to deciding whether or not I liked it. I usually become disgusted when a children's book decides it's merely going to recount events, and pure narrative is pretty much what we have here. Yet there was something so sweet and charming about the mostly...”
“This was a tough book for me when it came to deciding whether or not I liked it. I usually become disgusted when a children's book decides it's merely going to recount events, and pure narrative is pretty much what we have here. Yet there was something so sweet and charming about the mostly summarized events of Rosetta Douglass' life and I rather think young readers will discover that same charm. Here is the story of Rosetta Douglass and her father's fight for her to attend public school with white children. Despite being theoretically welcomed by children, adults keep Rosetta in a room by herself and in a home tutoring program until Frederick Douglass succeeds in one of his quests for equality. Yes, the book is largely Rosetta telling stuff, but this was a case where something worked right. And this would have been enough. Then I reached the historical note at the end. What I assumed to be a couple of pages turned into being about a third of the book's content, going further and further into depth of the story's events. I thought "Seriously? Who is this book for? Kids or adults?" A kid who is at the reading level of the main story won't be interested in the notes and an adult can look even further for information. It was odd, distracting, and pointless... and severely affected by opinion of the book.”
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