Speed of Light

When Audrey Ina's father decides to help a black man secure a position on the local police force in a small southern town in the 1950s, her quiet life is forever changed as prejudice and intolerance show their faces in ways she never imagined.

Grade 4-7-Audrey Ina Stern, a Jewish girl living in Blue Gap, VA, in the 1950s, must come to terms with racism and anti-Semitism when her father, a city councilman, champions a black man for an opening in the local police department. Councilman Stern's action triggers a sequence of events including phone threats, hostility from neighbors, and, ultimately, having his family's home firebombed. For Tante, a distant relative who lives with the Sterns, these events rekindle haunting memories from her childhood, including imprisonment at Auschwitz and the loss of her family. Through the Sterns' efforts, along with those of the courageous Mr. Cardwell, the black police candidate, and Miss Farley, an eccentric librarian, progress toward a more equal and just community is made. The story, narrated by Audrey, is both inspiring and exciting, though at times her voice sounds less like a young girl and more like an instructor, especially when defining unfamiliar words and phrases or describing historical events. The characters' lives touch on issues of great importance to young people-compassion, prejudice, and the courage to stand up for one's convictions. However, these themes are often obvious and heavy-handed, and several situations are unbelievably convenient or contrived. The background of the South in the '50s is realistically drawn, even though the racist townspeople are not developed past the stereotypical. Overall, though, Rosen adequately portrays the paradox of a world in which hatred and evil coexist with the miracle of human goodness.
Tim Rausch, Crescent View Middle School, Sandy, UT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rosen's overly ambitious novel is set in a Virginia mill town in 1956. The narrator, 11-year-old Audrey Stern, belongs to one of the few Jewish families in the area. She becomes acutely conscious of her heritage when her father, a town councilman, sponsors a black man's application to be a policeman. Outraging racist townspeople, Mr. Stern's actions precipitate a wave of anti-Semitism-including vandalism that terrifies Tante, Audrey's difficult distant cousin and Holocaust survivor who lives with the Sterns. Before the turmoil is resolved, Audrey learns about Tante's experiences in Auschwitz ("How could I ever have felt anything but pity for her?" she reproaches herself); Tante overcomes her pain and forges a bond with Audrey, aided by her somewhat convenient discovery that Audrey looks a lot like herself; and Audrey teaches and receives lessons in courage. As the title suggests, there's also an astronomy motif that shows up in various metaphors. The plotting is believable only up to a point, and the weight of the themes is always evident, given Rosen's heavy-handedness. The dialogue, too, strains in the author's attempts to convey various Southern dialects as well as Tante's Yiddish inflections. However, there are flashes of grace and insight, signs that this first novelist may rise to the challenging topics she has chosen for herself. Ages 10-14. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956, there's a bus boycott, but in 11-year-old Audrey's small mill town in the mountains of Virginia, segregation is never challenged. Then Mr. Caldwell tries to become the town's first black policeman, Audrey's father supports the integration, and Audrey and her family are verbally and physically attacked as Jews "trying to help that nigger." Many Jews in the community wish Audrey's dad would stop making trouble, but she supports her dad, even after the racists attack her home and hurt her mother. Central to the story is the brooding presence in Audrey's home of her distant cousin Tante, an Auschwitz survivor. Through Tante's personal testimony, Audrey learns about the Holocaust, and she makes the connections to slavery and its bitter aftermath in segregation. There are some awkward contrivances to get the history told, and the black characters are all perfectly noble and strong, but the dramatic confrontations and the issues will move readers. In a quiet climactic scene, Audrey and her black friend spontaneously integrate the town bus when Audrey offers him her seat. Hazel Rochman