Stella Stands Alone - Softcover

LaFaye, A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416986472 ISBN 13: 9781416986478

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010

Synopsis

Stella Reid is fighting to save the home she loves. After her father is killed and her mother succumbs to yellow fever, it's up to Stella to run Oak Grove, her family's plantation. Unlike most Southerners, Stella sees herself as equal to the African Americans she works side-by-side with in the cotton fields. The white Southerners reject her, and the freed men can't trust her after generations of enduring the horrors of slavery. So Stella stands alone as she fights to follow through on her father's dream to leave Oak Grove to her and the slaves. His will is nowhere to be found. Now, the bank has foreclosed on the plantation -- and the day of the auction is rapidly approaching. With no legal claim to the land, Stella is confronted with the possibility of losing Oak Grove, the only home she's ever known.

In this inspiring novel, A. LaFaye, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, recounts a young woman's struggle to save her family's land and preserve their memory, illuminating the harsh realities faced by women and freed slaves during the turbulent years after the Civil War.

About this title

About the Author

A. LaFaye (the "A" is for Alexandria) is the author of Worth, for which she received the Scott O'Dell Award, as well as The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place, The Strength of Saints, Edith Shay, Strawberry Hill, and Dad, in Spirit. She teaches at California State University at San Bernardino during the school year and at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, in the summer. She lives in Cabot, Arkansas.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—LaFaye presents a solid example of alternate-history fiction set in Mississippi in 1866, imagining what it would have been like if some Southerners had tried to treat African Americans with justice and respect. Fourteen-year-old Stella's mother just died from yellow fever, and now the bank will repossess Oak Grove unless she can find her father's will and payment book. The townspeople refuse to deal fairly with her as she shares his views about the evil of slavery; in fact, he had promised to sign over ownership of the plantation to the black workers. Her only hope for keeping Oak Grove and fulfilling her father's vow is to find a Yankee to buy the property at auction. Enter Mr. Dooley, a Philadelphia lawyer. At first skeptical about Oak Grove's management—the workers hold meetings to vote on issues—he gradually comes to respect and appreciate Stella's views, and the two become partners. While not all of the characters are fully realized, the Reconstruction-period details are spot-on. Side plots dealing with the personal lives of ex-slaves lend glimpses into the heartbreak inflicted by slavery. Stella's ideas and actions are extremely modern but readers feel her frustration at the social constrictions she faces as a girl and her bewilderment and anger at the racism she witnesses.—Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1416986472
• ISBN 13: 9781416986478
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256