Home is with our Family by Joyce Hansen

Hansen, Joyce Home is with our Family, 278 p. Jump at the Sun (Disney), 2010.  $16.99.  Content: G.  Maria Peters and her family are members of a small free Black community in New York City in 1855.  The mayor of New York has big plans for a beautiful park.  Unfortunately, that would mean displacing and destroying Maria’s entire community.  While her parents try to fight the city’s actions, Maria ahs struggles of hew own in school, with being honest, and with her worry over a new girl in class, who seems to be harboring a secret.  Hansen’s book is an interesting look at the origins of New York’s Central Park and life under the Fugitive Slave Law.  It won’t appeal to boys too much, as it is pretty sweet, but there is a healthy dose of tension and danger, too.  EL – OPTIONAL. Cindy. Library Teacher.