Hesse, Karen. (2001). Witness. Cover Art by Kim McGillvary. New York: Scholastic.
Reviews
Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-9. Using real events, Hesse tells a story of the Ku Klux Klan in a small town in Vermont in 1924 in the same clear free-verse as her Newbery winner, Out of the Dust (1997……Add this to the Holocaust curriculum, not because every racial incident means genocide, but because the book will spark discussion about how such a thing can happen even now.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001
What Copeland created with music, and Hopper created with paint, Hesse deftly and unerringly creates with words...
Reviews
Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-9. Using real events, Hesse tells a story of the Ku Klux Klan in a small town in Vermont in 1924 in the same clear free-verse as her Newbery winner, Out of the Dust (1997……Add this to the Holocaust curriculum, not because every racial incident means genocide, but because the book will spark discussion about how such a thing can happen even now.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001
What Copeland created with music, and Hopper created with paint, Hesse deftly and unerringly creates with words...
Awards
2002 The Christopher Award
ALA Notable Children's Book
2001 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
2001 Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year
Witness is free-verse poetry, with a journal format that is divided into five acts. Written as a lyrical novel the story almost reads like a play. The story is told from the perspectives of 11 different voices that bring it to life. Of interest is the lack of capital letters, perhaps it is to illustrate the innocence and ignorance of those times. Although the book is written for grades 5-9, it may be more appropriate for middle and high school due to its format and content. The novel may be used to teach history, past and present, and to generate discussions about tolerance of indifference. Readers experience the events of terror and peace; witness the characters capacity for love, hate, kindness and change.
Hesse, in her novel tells the story of what happens to a small town when it is suddenly torn apart by the Ku Klux Klan. By using multiple perspectives of the same events she allows each character to tell their version. By doing this, personal biases are made known, and judgments about the temperament of the characters can be made. Witness as it is written helps the reader hear the voices and feel their emotions as you are drawn into the story. Although there are many voices being heard the story revolves around two children who are new to town Leonora Sutter, 12, who is black, and Esther Hirsch, 6, who is Jewish. The dialect of the two girls comes through vividly and contrasts both. Nonetheless, the story as it comes to life through the poems, is compelling and holds the reader's attention.
I have included excerpts from the novel to invite you in.
2002 The Christopher Award
ALA Notable Children's Book
2001 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
2001 Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year
Witness is free-verse poetry, with a journal format that is divided into five acts. Written as a lyrical novel the story almost reads like a play. The story is told from the perspectives of 11 different voices that bring it to life. Of interest is the lack of capital letters, perhaps it is to illustrate the innocence and ignorance of those times. Although the book is written for grades 5-9, it may be more appropriate for middle and high school due to its format and content. The novel may be used to teach history, past and present, and to generate discussions about tolerance of indifference. Readers experience the events of terror and peace; witness the characters capacity for love, hate, kindness and change.
Hesse, in her novel tells the story of what happens to a small town when it is suddenly torn apart by the Ku Klux Klan. By using multiple perspectives of the same events she allows each character to tell their version. By doing this, personal biases are made known, and judgments about the temperament of the characters can be made. Witness as it is written helps the reader hear the voices and feel their emotions as you are drawn into the story. Although there are many voices being heard the story revolves around two children who are new to town Leonora Sutter, 12, who is black, and Esther Hirsch, 6, who is Jewish. The dialect of the two girls comes through vividly and contrasts both. Nonetheless, the story as it comes to life through the poems, is compelling and holds the reader's attention.
I have included excerpts from the novel to invite you in.
leanora sutter
separated on the stage from all those limb-tight white girls.
The ones who wouldn’t dane with a negro.
they went home in a huff that first day,
but some came back.
they told miss harvey they’d dance,
but they wouldn’t
touch any brown skin girl.
ester hirsh
So I made a long walk by myself.
I did follow the train tracks and
pretty quick daddy did have comings after me.
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