Like Sisters on the Homefront

by Rita Williams-Garcia, Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Read by)

Overview

When Gayle gets into trouble with her boyfriend, her mother sends the street-smart 14-year-old-and her baby, José-down to Georgia, to live with Uncle Luther and his family. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one around except kneesock-wearing, Jesus-praising cousin Cookie. Then Gayle meets Great, the family matriarch-and her stories of the past begin to change how Gayle sees her future. Williams-Garcia has surpassed herself..She has set these fictional characters. firmly in the real world while still allowing them to rise from the pages and into readers' hearts and imaginations. -The Horn Book, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094099378
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/30/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. Her novel Clayton Byrd Goes Underground was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the NAACP Image Award for Youth/Teen Literature. Rita is also the author of five other distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); and Blue Tights. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.

Editorial Reviews

A streetwise teenage mother goes to live with religious relatives in Georgia in this "unusually perceptive, streetwise novel," said PW in a starred review. "The emotions ring true, as does the portrait of contemporary black culture." Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7 Up-This is a wonderful book about going home again, about the strength of family love, and about the power of friendship. Gayle is a black 14-year-old mother who, when she becomes pregnant again, is sent South to do some growing up among relatives she doesn't know and doesn't particularly like. Streetwise, sullen, disrespectful, and angry, she gradually comes under the spell of her wise and very old great-grandmother. Great is feisty, quarrelsome, soils herself, and never leaves her room, but with her dying words gives Gayle the gift of both the past and the future. Gayle comes to know her aunt and uncle, and especially her cousin, but she also discovers what her mother must have been like as a young woman. This knowledge allows her to better understand the importance of family and friendship. Beautifully written, the text captures the cadence and rhythm of New York street talk and the dilemma of being poor, black, and uneducated. This is a gritty, realistic, well-told story that will make an excellent addition to YA fiction collections.-Carol Jones Collins, Montclair Kimberley Academy, NJ

School Library Journal

Narrator Joniece Abbot-Pratt delivers a dynamic listening experience of a book originally published 25 years ago. When 14-year-old Gayle becomes pregnant again, her mother sends her to live with her uncle’s family in Georgia, along with her baby, José. Away from her friends, she’s stuck hanging out with her straitlaced cousin, Cookie, and caring for her dying grandmother, Great. Abbot-Pratt excels at adding personality to each character, switching seamlessly between Cookie’s clear enunciation, Gayle’s black vernacular, and Great’s low, gravelly timbre. Listeners will be endeared by Gayle’s candid tenacity as she discovers more about her roots through caring for Great. A heartwarming, authentic performance affirms the power of family. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile

Narrator Joniece Abbot-Pratt delivers a dynamic listening experience of a book originally published 25 years ago. When 14-year-old Gayle becomes pregnant again, her mother sends her to live with her uncle’s family in Georgia, along with her baby, José. Away from her friends, she’s stuck hanging out with her straitlaced cousin, Cookie, and caring for her dying grandmother, Great. Abbot-Pratt excels at adding personality to each character, switching seamlessly between Cookie’s clear enunciation, Gayle’s black vernacular, and Great’s low, gravelly timbre. Listeners will be endeared by Gayle’s candid tenacity as she discovers more about her roots through caring for Great. A heartwarming, authentic performance affirms the power of family. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2020 - AudioFile