Hush
From AwardAnnals
 | |
| Author(s) | Jacqueline Woodson |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin USA (Paper) |
| Honors | |
| Toswiah Green’s life ended the moment her policeman father decided to testify against a fellow officer. The Greens have had to change their identities and move to a different city. Now Toswiah is Evie Thomas, and that is the least of the changes. Her defeated father spends his days sitting by the window. Since her mother can no longer work as a teacher, she puts her energy into their new church. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave. And Evie, struggling to find her way, wonders who she is now and how she can make her future as bright as her past once was. | |
Toswiah Green’s life ended the moment her policeman father decided to testify against a fellow officer. The Greens have had to change their identities and move to a different city. Now Toswiah is Evie Thomas, and that is the least of the changes. Her defeated father spends his days sitting by the window. Since her mother can no longer work as a teacher, she puts her energy into their new church. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave. And Evie, struggling to find her way, wonders who she is now and how she can make her future as bright as her past once was.
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
Toswiah Green. Evie Thomas. One girl. Two names. Two lives. When her police officer father witnesses two white cops killing a black boy, he makes the heart-wrenching decision to testify against his former friends. Overnight, thanks to the witness protection program, Toswiah becomes Evie, and she and her family leave their idyllic Denver, Colorado, life far behind. Toswiah’s previously happy, lighthearted mother abruptly turns to religion, her big sister makes secret plans to escape the family, and her proud father collapses inward to a depressed, almost catatonic state. Adolescent Toswiah—now Evie—copes as best she can, taking up track and field in school, and trying to fathom who she is, and who she is becoming.
Jacqueline Woodson, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Miracle’s Boys and many other highly acclaimed titles, delves deep into the confused hearts of a family that has lost its identity. Toswiah, as a young teenager, was already on the verge of shaping her identity as a young woman; with these shattering events, it takes every ounce of strength and courage to keep her core intact. (Ages 13 and older) —Emilie Coulter
