The Colored Car bookcover

The Colored Car

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Description

For young readers, the powerful story of an African American girl's train journey south from Detroit in 1937.

In The Colored Car, Jean Alicia Elster, author of the award-winning Who's Jim Hines?, follows another member of the Ford family coming of age in Depression-era Detroit. In the hot summer of 1937, twelve-year-old Patsy takes care of her three younger sisters and helps her mother put up fresh fruits and vegetables in the family's summer kitchen, adjacent to the wood yard that her father, Douglas Ford, owns. Times are tough, and Patsy's mother, May Ford, helps neighborhood families by sharing the food that she preserves. But May's decision to take a break from canning to take her daughters for a visit to their grandmother's home in Clarksville, Tennessee, sets in motion a series of events that prove to be life-changing for Patsy.

After boarding the first-class train car at Michigan Central Station in Detroit and riding comfortably to Cincinnati, Patsy is shocked when her family is led from their seats to change cars. In the dirty, cramped "colored car," Patsy finds that the life she has known in Detroit is very different from life down south, and she can hardly get the experience out of her mind when she returns home--like the soot stain on her finely made dress or the smear on the quilt squares her grandmother taught her to sew. As summer wears on, Patsy must find a way to understand her experience in the colored car and also deal with the more subtle injustices that her family faces in Detroit. By the end of the story, Patsy will never see the world in the same way that she did before.

Elster's engaging narrative illustrates the personal impact of segregation and discrimination and reveals powerful glimpses of everyday life in 1930s Detroit. For young readers interested in American history, The Colored Car is engrossing and informative reading.

Product Details

PublisherWayne State University Press
Publish DateSeptember 13, 2013
Pages224
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780814336069
Dimensions7.4 X 5.0 X 0.9 inches | 0.5 pounds
BISAC Categories: Popular Fiction,

About the Author

Jean Alicia Elster is a professional writer of fiction for children and young adults. She is the granddaughter of Douglas and Maber (May) Jackson Ford, whose family story is the basis of The Colored Car. Her other books include Who's Jim Hines? (Wayne State University Press, 2008), which was selected as a Michigan Notable Book and a ForeWord Book of the Year finalist; I'll Do the Right Thing; I'll Fly My Own Plane; I Have a Dream, Too!; and Just Call Me Joe Joe.

Reviews

I enjoyed this book because I liked Patsy's character. I liked how she was smart enough to realize that segregation was wrong and brave enough to stand up to it on the train. I recommend this book to readers who like historical fiction. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, so I really loved this book.

--Elena, age 9 "Elena Reads"

I would recommend this book for colored kids around the age of 9-10 years who would like to get more in touch with true American history, and people who are just looking for a great book to read. I give this book 4 out of 4 roses because it subtly teaches life fundamentals that aren't often taught in a classroom.

--Christian S., age 12 "Elena Reads"

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