Victoria Bond

Tanya R. Simon

A tale inspired by the early life of Zora Neale Hurston finds the imaginative future author telling fantastical stories about a mythical evil creature until a racially charged murder threatens to shatter the peace in her turn-of-the-century Southern community. A first novel.

Zora and Me

linda

I read this book for work, because one of my current students is reading it. I did a little happy dance in my head when I saw Eatonville, Florida, and connected it to Zora Neale Hurston. I loved Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston is an incredible storyteller, so I like how this book might introduce her to young readers. I also enjoyed seeing snapshots of what Zora might have been like as a young girl. "Zora loved to read so much, it hardly felt like studying to her," Bond wrote. Or: "She prided herself on knowing more words than anybody in the school — teachers possibly included — and knowing how to spell them to boot, but she never talked fancy without a good reason." Here's a young Zora with an incredibly clear sense of self: “Saying what I know and wanting answers, doesn’t make me white. I know who I am. I’m Zora.” This quote I love: “I tell stories, and one of these days, all y’all are going to find out they true! My stories are true!”

I think this book also approaches race in a way that's comprehensible to young readers. Here is a beautiful passage from Bond - "Since folks always called these kinds of answers 'white lies,' Zora and I reckoned it was because white folks required lies from us. That’s not to say that we thought of our business, our lives, as particularly colored or Negro. We just didn’t think white people needed to be privy to everything that was ours. Our lives and our selves weren’t simply anyone’s for the taking." This quote made me think back to Beloved, to Their Eyes Were Watching God, even Claudia Rankine's citizen, about creating autonomy and carving out space in a white-washed world. 

4 stars because the beginning was slow, but otherwise a great read!

Zora and Me

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