A Heart Divided

Rating:
Summary: THOUGHTFUL, PROVACATIVE, EXCELLENT!!!
Review: When a liberal girl from the north moves to a small town in the south, she falls in love with a wealthy southern boy and becomes embroiled in a Confederate flag controversy at her school. I read this amazing novel when the daughter of a friend gushed about it to me, and it truly is an amazing book. The ease of the read could fool a reader into thinking that the work is less weighty than it actually is. The authors have managed to tackle the sensitive and incendiary issue of the Confederate flag in a fresh and thought-provoking way. That they teen characters, black and white, are actually able to come up with a solution for their school, and that the solution is one that could actually be modeled in real life, is nothing short of genius. The novel also contains a play based on both real and fictitious interviews about the Confederate flag in the style of Anna Devere Smith, and the play is included in the back of the novel (and I noticed it's available for classroom use! -- as a former teacher this delights me!). Girls might initially read this for the romance, but the life lessons will linger with them long after the love plot fades. A must read for all Americans, of all ages.