Witness by Karen Hesse

This past week, I finished reading Witness by Karen Hesse and this marks the second children's book I've read by Karen Hesse. 

I enjoyed reading 'Witness' as much as I enjoyed reading Hesse's Newbery Medal award winning novel 'Out of the Dust'. 

'Witness' is a historical novel set in a small town in Vermont in 1924. 'Witness' was written as a series of free verse poems, which I found to be an engaging and novel way to write and advance the storyline in a book.

'Witness' is also set up in 5 acts and with several of the townsfolk sharing their point of view on the events taking place in their town. Because of the way in which 'Witness' was written, I felt that it reads almost like a series of monologues in a play.

The following is a book description of 'Witness' per Amazon:

Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .

These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.

In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.

I highly recommend reading 'Witness'. Until my next post, happy reading!