Friday, May 12, 2023

Beginning ~ in 1970

Beginning

It was a beautiful day; that needs to be said —
the first beautiful spring day in Kent,
after a long, dark, cold Ohio winter —

            And Nixon!

Yes, that speech.
Now we knew the war was going to go on.
And on.
We knew more would die.

            More would be us!

Kent State ~ by Deborah Wiles, 2020, YA historical fiction, 144 pages

From two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles, a masterpiece exploration of one of the darkest moments in our history, when American troops killed four American students protesting the Vietnam War.  May 4, 1970.  Kent State University.

As protestors roil the campus, National Guardsmen are called in.  In the chaos of what happens next, shots are fired and four students are killed.  To this day, there is still argument of what happened and why.  Told in multiple voices from a number of vantage points — protestor, Guardsman, townie, student — Deborah Wiles's Kent State gives a moving, terrifying, galvanizing picture of what happened that weekend in Ohio . . . an event that, even 50 years later, still resonates deeply.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.

3 comments:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I was just reading about this book on Helen's blog. Helen loved it. I'll be interested in seeing what you think, Bonnie.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I went to Helen's blog to see what she said, and she gave this book a "5 out of 5 rating." Here's the link for others who may want to read her take on the book:
http://www.helensbookblog.com/2023/05/ya-nonfiction-review-kent-state-by.html

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I read this book a few years ago and found it very compelling, especially the trick the author did with font and placement of the text on the page. Once I figured everything out I was in! Plus I learned a lot. Here is my review, if you want to read it:

https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2021/01/review-and-quotes-kent-state.html