BOOK: Burning up by Cooney

[Frederick Muller <fmuller@TELLURIAN.NET>]

Cooney, Caroline B._Burning up_,1999 [0385-32318-2]
Macey walks by a burned-out building every day and when she has
to do a report on local history, decides to do it about that fire from
40 years ago.  Strangely everyone who was around at that time in
this exclusive Connecticut community remembers nothing about it -
- including her parents and grandparents.  After doing some difficult
and frustrating research, she finds out that there was an apartment
in the building that was occupied by the first African American
teacher in the town.  She and her newly found boyfriend dig
uncomfortably into the subject. They are warned to stop asking
questions.  In the middle of it all she does a one-time volunteer job
in an inner city church and befriends a local African American girl.
This girl is shot a killed soon there after and her death gives Marcy
the cause she needs to continue to "stir up the ashes."  This 230
page book about silent prejudice is probably Mrs. Cooney's most
important work.  It may not be her most popular because it makes
the reader very uncomfortable but it is an important addition to
middle school and high school collections  -- especially in suburbia!

***************
Frederick Muller
Halsted Middle School Library
59 Halsted Street
Newton, NJ   07860
   voice (973) 383-7440 ext 228
   FAX (973) 383-7432
My book reviews are compiled at:
  http://www.halsted.org/br.htm
My personal web site is:
  http://users.tellurian.net/fmuller

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