Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment
Book
In recent years, America’s criminal justice system has become the subject of an increasingly...
Politics social issues race
Raising the Race: Black Career Women Redefine Marriage, Motherhood, and Community
Book
Winner of the 2017 Race, Gender, and Class Section Book Award from the American Sociological...
Gender studies social issues finance
Blackout
Book
It's time for a black exit. Political activist and social media star Candace Owens addresses the...
The Sixth Man
Book
Andre Iguodala is one of the most admired players in the NBA. And fresh off the Warriors' fifth...
Jamaican Recipes
Food & Drink and Lifestyle
App
The "Jamaican Recipes" app has over Jamaican 110 recipes with step by step cooking instructions. It...
Becoming
Book
An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States. In a...
Non-Fiction
The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy
Book
The first full account of the Flint, Michigan, water scandal, an American tragedy, with new details,...
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Nov 14, 2022 (Updated Nov 14, 2022)
Language of Spears
Book
CAN A KINGDOM WHOSE SUPREMACY THRIVES ON A TRADITION OF WAR REALLY LEARN PEACE? In the esteemed...
fantasy
Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated The Lost History of Stars in Books
Jun 16, 2018
The main character, Lettie, who is a thirteen year old Dutch-Africkaner girl comes from a poor farming family. She endures the loss of her home with her mother and two younger siblings when the scorched earth policy employed by the British during the Boer War burns their farm and forces them to leave in a wagon. Their African maid, Bina, tries to stay with the family, but is given no choice by the soldiers but to return to her people.
Lettie and her family are sent to a concentration camp where the conditions are awful. Her father, older brother, uncles, and grandfather are sent to fight the British with guerrilla tactics. Lettie worries and wonders about Bina and her family. Often Lettie remembers the songs and wisdom Bina shared during her childhood and the history of stars that Grandpa shared with her at night under the sparkling sky.
The story is told from Lettie's point of view. The reader learns of her experience in the concentration camp. Lettie attempt to find the good in small moments. Her more treasured possession is her English dictionary, which she reads for comfort to pass time.
The story switches between the present and past. This allows the reader to understand life before the war and during the war. It give the reader background information to understand the family dynamics.