Witness by Karen Hesse
My rating: 2/5 cats
this is the way this conversation should have gone down.
“so, i want to write a kid’s book about the KKK coming to town and the town’s reaction to it from all different perspectives”
“okay, i am listening”
“it will be set in vermont…”
“wait – what?? vermont?? not in the south??”
“no, in vermont. the green mountain state”
“okay, your call. keep ’em guessing, i like it. why pick on the south all the time, sure. everyone thinks vermont is so liberal – we will show them!!”
“okay – and i am going to have seventeen main narrators who-”
“seventeen?? really?? that seems like a lot to keep track of, what age group is this for??”
“no, it will be fine, i am going to have photos of all the characters on the front, and each poem will be a different character’s perspective, and”
“poem?? what poem???”
“oh, well, it is all in verse, so – ”
“no. no. no. no way. no KKK poetry here, please. get out of my office, good lady.”