Mama's Window - Hardcover

Rubright, Lynn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1584301600 ISBN 13: 9781584301608

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2005

Synopsis

His dying mother's insistence leads an eleven-year-old black child to be raised by his disabled uncle, in the swamps of the Mississipi Delta in the early 1900s, and to recall her tireless work to fund a stained glass window for her church.

About this title

About the Author:

Patricia McKissack has won numerous awards for her children's books, including the Coretta Scott King Author Award, Newbery Medal Honor, and Carter G. Woodson Book Award. Her friendship and professional relationship with Rubright date back thirty years, and she mentored Rubright through the many years Mama's Window was in development.

Lynn Rubright is a professional storyteller who has taught many storytelling courses over the past twenty years. She is the recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Association and was awarded a regional EMMY for her work as a co-producer of the documentary Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6–James Earle Sugar Martin's mother has been dead for six months when this story begins. By her request, he is now living with her brother, a disabled loner. The two of them reside in a one-room shack in the Mississippi Delta and Uncle Free makes his living by fishing the waters of the swamp. He doesn't speak much, and when he does, he sounds gruff and short. Yet, as time goes by, his guidance is firm, gentle, kind, and patient. The story is loosely based on the childhood experiences of Reverend Owen H. Whitfield, an African-American sharecropper, preacher, and union organizer in Arkansas during the 1930s. At the heart of the story is the fact that Sugar's mother had taken on extra work to save money specifically for a stained-glass window when the new church is built. When funds fall short, the building committee decides to use the funds to buy bricks instead. Sugar's keen disappointment and his abiding faith in his mother's dream eventually cause church members to rethink what is important. Rubright's sentences are descriptive, yet never overwhelming; paragraphs are kept short, and the pace is swift–all elements that draw in even the most reluctant readers. The book is simple in style and layout, with plenty of white space and a few small black-and-white illustrations. This touching tale of a boy's commitment to his mother, underscored by the powerful understanding and closeness that develops between him and his uncle, makes this a wonderful first purchase.–Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
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About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1584301600
• ISBN 13: 9781584301608
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: Smith Duane