The Dry Grass of August, By Anna Jean Mayhew, tells the simple story of thirteen-year old Jubie Watts, a privileged white Southern teen whose eyes will soon be opened to the racism of the 1950s.
Jubie leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. The year is 1954. Crammed into the car along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. Jubie can't help but take note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. When the trip takes a shocking turn, Jubie is faced with deciding where her own convictions lie.
This novel is many things: well-written, enjoyable, bearing a story line and well developed characters that live on long after the final chapter is laid aside, better than The Help, and finally, effective to remind us (shock us) of a time not so long ago. Glad I read it!
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