The Other Side

What baby boomer cannot relate to a book that portrays the "dividing line" that separated blacks and whites in this country prior to the Civil Rights Movement!!!This story shows two youngsters, one black and one white, that come to bridge the gap by making a simple gesture of sitting on the fence that comes between their two homes.Such a simple act has great power and the book is perfect for primary and elementary learners, thought-provoking and beautifully illustrated.

This is a touching story about how children don't see black and white, but see potential friendship and possibilities. Two little girls learn how to work around "the fence" that adults have constructed and find a friend. For teachers, this is a fabulous book for teaching questioning strategies in reading. The illustrations are wonderful.

Moving, simple, perfect. It needs to be in every library, and dare I say every home. It is one of those rare read alouds that will hold children ages 5-12 spellbound. A great choice for literature circles, it's especially strong for questioning.

"That summer the fence that stretched through our town seemed bigger. We lived in a yellow house on one side of it. White people lived on the other. And Mama said, "Don't climb over that fence when you play." She said it wasn't safe..." Soon our narrator, Clover, sees a little white girl, Annie, hanging on the fence and staring into their yard, day after day. She was always alone. Finally, one day Clover gets close enough to the fence to talk to the little girl. They exchange names, and smiles, and pretty soon the two are sitting together on top of the fence. "My mama says I shouldn't go on the other side," I said. "My mama says the same thing. But she never said nothing about sitting on it." "Neither did mine," I said. That summer me and Annie sat on that fence and watched the whole wide world around us..." Jacqueline Woodson's eloquent and understated prose captures the feel of the old South in the 1950's, before integration, and is both poignant and uplifting. E B Lewis's elegant watercolors complement the text with expressive heartwarming and lifelike illustrations in soft summer tones. Together, word and art paint an engaging portrait of times gone by with a gentle message that won't be lost on young readers. Perfect for youngsters 7-10, or as a read aloud for younger children, The Other Side is a sensitive and evocative story, told with great insight, wisdom, and truth. "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," Annie said. And I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "Someday."