Guardian

This is a short, easily-read book. But it's powerful, moving, well-crafted, thought-provoking, artful and extremely well-written. I was taken in by the author's ability to describe different shades of silence between people, sometimes contented, sometime contentious. He has a gift with the turn of a phrase so feel like you know exactly what he means. It's implicit that the readers of the novella all agree: racism is horrible for everyone. But the author didn't abuse that assumption; he avoided cheap, easy, gimmicky one-dimensionalism. The conclusion isn't "Aren't those racist people terrible?" In the characters, we see our own shortcomings. But it's also a message of inspiration, strength and reformation. It's hard to say "This is a great book!" because of the horrible, lamentable actions describe. How can you be happy and excited to read about racism in the south? But you should. You should read, remember, and grow.

Reviewed by Dylan James (age 12) for Reader Views (7/09) In "Guardian," Ansel tries to understand the strange world he lives in, where one man can own another man with only a different color separating them. He hates this and despises it so much so that he insists on being equals with every man of another color he sees. Soon the hoodlum of the town commits rape and murder and he immediately blames it on the closest black person to him. Everybody in town can obviously see the hoodlum did it, but as whites are always right and blacks are supposedly always wrong, they lynch the black man. Ansel is so stung by his own father going along with this horrible action that with his mother's help, he runs away to live a better life. Straight off, I can tell you with the utmost confidence that "Guardian" by Julius Lester is a good book for everyone to read at some point in their lives. It shows how different America (supposedly the land of the free) was decades ago. This can help us better ourselves for the future. Although this book should be read, there definitely should be a minimum age. This is a very sad story; with nothing going the way it should. Ansel's love is the one raped and murdered. Ansel's best friend's dad is the one falsely accused and lynched. There is brutal violence from Zeph, the hoodlum. The murder/rape isn't described in detail at all; readers are told about it and Ansel finds the victim's body. There is also several scenes dealing with sensual desires; in fact about 1/4 of this book has to do with woman victims of men's desire. Ansel's mom is married forcibly because his dad had more or less raped her in the back of a car. This book is obviously not intended for young audiences. Sensible, mature young teens will be fine with this book, and their parents will probably be fine with it also, but for anyone younger than 12 it is not recommended by me. I liked Julius Lester's style of writing; he got the point of the book across very pointedly and direct. Readers will walk away from "Guardian" with new knowledge.

I do not have the words to express what I felt as I read this story. I could feel something bad was going to happen way to soon in the book. I wish the things that happened during that time period had never happened but they did. I really appreciate that it was done from a white child's perception...for they are my memories and my unease of those times.

We don't judge books by their covers --- or spines. Julius Lester's GUARDIAN may be the reason for that. This thin volume looks like it's so short that it doesn't have enough time to be interesting, but it packs quite the punch. Ansel Anderson works at the store owned by his father, Bert. He knows that someday he will grow up and take over from his dad, and then later he will have a son who will do the same. Things never change. His friend Willie, who is black, also knows that things never change. No matter what Ansel tells him, Willie always calls him Mister, and Willie seems content to be stuck in his role below Ansel. It's 1946, and things like segregation, sharecropping and racism are as natural as breathing. When Ansel and Willie are out walking, they run into Zeph Davis, son of the richest man in town. The Davis family is legendary --- so legendary, in fact, that the town is named after them. It would be nothing to run into Zeph, except that he is horrible and mean, and happens to be walking with Mary Susan, who Ansel may have a crush on and who may just have a crush on Ansel as well. Everyone exchanges words, and Mary Susan, the preacher's daughter, insults Zeph, making him angry. When a terrible crime occurs just a few days later, it is only Ansel and Willie who know the truth about what has happened, and only Ansel, as a young white man, who has the power to right the wrong. But he is just meek enough that correcting an error turns out to be very hard to do. GUARDIAN is subtly poignant, and it shines not only in its simple story but also in its storytelling. Lester's language is beautiful, and his prologue is a poetic beginning to a serious, sad story. This turns what could be wholly depressing into something more hopeful, and it's not just because we know that that era is over. This isn't for the faint of heart, but it's just graphic enough to be effective without being gory. Some things in history were ugly and light should be shed --- Lester does this without losing his reader. Both a wonderful novel and a history textbook, GUARDIAN would be an excellent read for a high school student. Lester includes an appendix, a letter to the reader and a satisfying epilogue from Ansel's point of view. This book is a gift to the historical fiction genre, because it neither glosses over the less shiny parts of history nor does it pretend that people who lived a long time ago were completely different from those who are living now. Ansel acts like a 14-year-old boy, has thoughts about girls as any boy entering puberty would, and is a bit scared of his father like any boy. This would be an excellent read for anyone, whether they like historical fiction or not. --- Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez

There was a dark time in the history of the United States when even the best-intentioned people bore silent witness to the atrocities that were being committed by others. A time in which a person had to chose between honesty and personal safety. It is Tuesday afternoon, a hot summer day in 1946. By Friday night a crime will have been committed, two people will be dead, and fourteen-year-old Ansel Anderson will be forever tormented by the events of that night and those that followed. Ansel lives in Davis, a small town deep in the South. The town was named after the most wealthy and influential family in the area, the family now headed by Zeph Davis. Cap'n Davis has a way of employing his "negroes" in such a way that they remain in debt to him, a legal form of slavery. Everyone in Davis knows the rules of the social order. Black people are expected to address all whites - even the children - as "ma'am" or "sir", they are to move from the sidewalk when a white person is coming, and they are to always be congenial. Even Ansel's best friend, Willie, addresses him as Mister Ansel. Ansel works in his father's store, along with Willie. Bert Anderson is preparing Ansel to take over the store someday, and to be a successful store owner he knows that Ansel has to start considering who he spends time with and what the other people in town think of him. His mother Maureen feels differently. She doesn't like the way the townspeople act and doesn't want her son to grow up with such narrow-minded influences. She has bigger dreams for Ansel, and, along with Esther Davis, Cap'n Davis's sister, she plants the seeds for Ansel to dream of a future beyond Davis. An unfortunate storm is brewing in Davis. Entitlement and anger are swelling in Zeph Davis the Third, the teenage son of Cap'n Davis. But who would believe that the son of a wealthy white man could commit such a heinous act as rape and murder when there was a negroe at the scene of the crime? And even if they do believe, will anyone take the risk of speaking out? GUARDIAN is an amazingly well-crafted story that grabs your attention and your heart from the very beginning. Author Julius Lester has a way of pulling you along in such a way that you can feel the intensity building with every word until the explosive finale. There is no sugar-coating to this story; it is real and it is raw and borne from a very sad reality in our world. If you can read and pass along one book this year, let it be GUARDIAN. Reviewed by: JodiG.