Gail R. (abigailsdaughter) reviewed Circle of Fire (American Girl History Mysteries, Bk 14) on + 201 more book reviews
Based on a historical incident in 1958, the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Mendy, a school-aged African-American girl, and her white friend Jeffrey, discover that the Ku Klux Klan plans to destroy the Highlander Folk School, one of the few integrated institutions in the South, and assassinate Eleanor Roosevelt when she speaks there. Although their parents warn them to stay out of it, they manage to foil the plot. An afterword, with photographs, describes the historical situation and the founding of the Highlander Folk School. This story is probably unique in children's fiction, but the writing is rather pedestrian.
Jessica R. (helmetgirl) reviewed Circle of Fire (American Girl History Mysteries, Bk 14) on + 65 more book reviews
This is a good story, however when I read this I was much younger and it frightened me really bad. The pet rabbit gets slaughtered and I had a pet rabbit that I was extremely found of. I was oblivious to the fact that the KKK was targeting her because she was black..When I was told by my Mom what the story was really about the message became clear, I was shocked that grown men would kill a girls pet bunny rabbit because she was black. This book became even more upsetting to me then, but I think it is a part of history that I needed to know.
Alice B. reviewed Circle of Fire (American Girl History Mysteries, Bk 14) on + 3584 more book reviews
Beautiful Book and story. In this suspenseful novel in the History Mystery series. The setting is a small town in Tennessee in 1958. The heroine, an African American girl, Mendy, is best friends with Jeffrey, a white boy she has known all her life. But that summer, things change. Jeffrey's parents forbid him to play with Mendy; and Mendy's mother won't let her go to the Highlander Folk School, where blacks and whites study ways to improve race relations; and Mendy learns how insidious the Klan is when she accidentally discovers them in some nearby woods. Mendy is thrilled to learn that Eleanor Roosevelt plans to speak at Highlander, but her excitement is short-circuited when she and Jeffrey uncover a Klan plot to bomb the school. As readers learn in an afterword, the events in this intriguing story are based on a true incident: Eleanor Roosevelt did speak at the school, and the FBI foiled a Klan plot to disrupt her visit.
