Woods, Brenda. When Winter Robeson Came. Fiction. Penguin /Paulsen, 01/2022. 160pp. $16.99. 978-1-5247-4158-7. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 4-8.
In free verse, 12-year-old Eden describes the time her cousin Winter from Mississippi visited her family in Los Angeles in August, 1965 to search for his missing father. His trip coincided with the nearby Watts riots, showing that L. A. was not that different from Mississippi when it came to racial strife. Even younger readers unfamiliar with the Watts riots, Jim Crow laws, or the Civil Rights Movement will be able to follow this historical novel depicting a warm, loving African American family and their neighbors. The mystery element involving Winter’s missing father will draw in many readers and is believably explained and resolved. This is a unique, thoughtful depiction of a historic event in California, as well as of a loving African American family and their neighbors. This book has California specific content.
Penny Peck, San Jose State Univ, iSchool