A community for teacher-librarians and other educators

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the adult books on my Summer TBR and like The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd's exhaustive research on the Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, reveals difficult lives for women who wanted to listen to their "inner voice." Sarah Grimke abhors slavery and wants to be a jurist like her father and brothers. When her mother gives her a slave, Handful, Sarah wants to give Handful her freedom instead. Told in alternating chapters by Sarah and Handful, the reader is plunged into the horrors of slave life as punishments are exacted on slaves for the slightest infractions; there are much worse agonies for stealing, etc. and all the slaves must watch and learn from the whippings and such. Sarah's life is fraught with stammering, and older sister, Mary who is evil just like her mother, and a father Sarah thinks will accept her longings to be a lawyer like her brothers. There was beauty in the slave story quilts Handful and her mother made; but these quilts were a testament to the slaves' suffering and their yearnings to be free and fly away like their ancestors. Teens and adults who like historical fiction will love this story of Sarah's and Handful's lives, friendship, and connection; a must read.

View all my reviews

Comment

You need to be a member of TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org) to add comments!

Join TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org)

Welcome to
TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org)

Sign Up
or Sign In

A Learning Revolution Project

Twitter feeds

Tweets about "#tlchat" Tweets about "#tlelem"

TL Scoop.its

Teacher Librarians of the 21st Century Curated by Mrs. N Ideas and Resources for the 21st Century Teacher Librarian

Libraries as Sites of Enchantment, Participatory Culture, and Learning Curated by Buffy J. Hamilton Ideas and resources to develop the concept of libraries as sites of participatory culture and learning

Personal Learning Networks for Librarians Curated by Donna Watt

Staying ahead of the game, managing your own professional development, joining the dots

SchoolLibrariesTeacherLibrarians Curated by Joyce Valenza News for teacher librarians

What is a teacher librarian? Curated by Tania Sheko Defining the role of teacher librarians for those who think we just look after books

Teacher librarians and transliteracy Curated by Sue Krust Explore the evolving role of the teacher librarian

Teacher-Librarian Curated by Librarian@HOPE Best sites and resources on the web for teacher-librarians

ResearChameleon on School Libraries Curated by Kathy Malatesta Teaching, mentoring & leading in today’s school libraries

Student Learning through School Libraries Curated by lyn_hay Building evidence of impact through research and professional practice

SCIS Curated by SCIS News and resources about school libraries

Educational Technology and Libraries Curated by Kim Tairi In libraries we teach, we learn and many of us are early adopters of technology. This is your scoop on those things.

21st Century Libraries Curated by Dr. Steve Matthews all things 21st Century library related