Award-winning author Linda Williams Jackson pulls from her own
childhood in the Mississippi Delta to tell the story of Ellis Earl, who
dreams of a real house, food enough for the whole family--and to be
someone.
It's 1967, and eleven-year-old Ellis Earl Brown has big dreams. He's
going to grow up to be a teacher or a lawyer--or maybe both--and live in
a big brick house in town. There'll always be enough food in the icebox,
and his mama won't have to run herself ragged looking for work as a maid
in order to support Ellis Earl and his eight siblings and niece, Vera.
So Ellis Earl applies himself at school, soaking up the lessons that Mr.
Foster teaches his class--particularly those about famous colored people
like Mr. Thurgood Marshall and Miss Marian Wright--and borrowing books
from his teacher's bookshelf. When Mr. Foster presents him with a copy
of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ellis Earl is amazed to
encounter a family that's even worse off than his own--and is delighted
by the Buckets' very happy ending. But when Mama tells Ellis Earl that
he might need to quit school to help support the family, he wonders if
happy endings are only possible in storybooks. Around the historical
touchstone of Robert Kennedy's southern "poverty tour," Linda Williams
Jackson pulls from her own childhood in the Mississippi Delta to tell a
detail-rich and poignant story with memorable characters, sure to
resonate with readers who have ever felt constricted by their
circumstances.
