A story of friendship across a racial divide. Clover, the young African-American narrator, lives beside a fence that segregates her town. Her mother instructs her never to climb over to the other side because it isn't safe. But one summer morning, Clover notices a girl on the other side. Both children are curious about one another, and as the summer stretches on, Clover and Annie work up the nerve to introduce themselves. They dodge the injunction against crossing the fence by sitting on top of it together, and Clover pretends not to care when her friends react strangely at the sight of her sitting side by side with a white girl. Eventually, it's the fence that's out of place, not the friendship. Woodson's spare text is easy and unencumbered. In her deft care, a story that might have suffered from heavy-handed didacticism manages to plumb great depths with understated simplicity. In Lewis's accompanying watercolor illustrations, Clover and her friends pass their summer beneath a blinding sun that casts dark but shallow shadows. Text and art work together beautifully.
-Catherine T. Quattlebaum, DeKalb County Public Library, Atlanta, GA
Summary and Review provided by: School Library Journal- Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
The Other Side, illustrated by E.B Lewis. Putnam, 2001.
When we read this book in class, I loved it. It is a very tactful way of demonstrating race issues and viewing them in the eyes of a child. This is a great multicultural book to read to students of any age. This very simply put book looks at a very serious issue, and views it through young eyes and plainly puts how ridiculous it is. A fun read and a great discussion.
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