#BookReview: Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink

Synopsis: A historical YA novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the Black Wall Street.

Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. A passionate follower of WEB. Du Bois, he believes that black people should rise up to claim their place as equals.

Sixteen-year-old Angel Hill is a loner, mostly disregarded by her peers as a goody-goody. Her father is dying, and her family’s financial situation is in turmoil. Also, as a loyal follower of Booker T. Washington, she believes, through education and tolerance, that black people should rise slowly and without forced conflict.

Though they’ve attended the same schools, Isaiah never noticed Angel as anything but a dorky, Bible toting church girl. Then their English teacher offers them a job on her mobile library, a three-wheel, two-seater bike. Angel can’t turn down the money and Isaiah is soon eager to be in such close quarters with Angel every afternoon.

But life changes on May 31, 1921 when a vicious white mob storms the community of Greenwood, leaving the town destroyed and thousands of residents displaced. Only then, Isaiah, Angel, and their peers realize who their real enemies are.



Goodreads | Amazon

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Review: Another book about the history and how dark a turn it can take.  I loved the characters and romance in this one.  That enough though the world can be a dark place it can also have light.  This book will rip out your heart and only put half of it back.  It devastated me.  

Review

A Junior Library Guild Selection

"The tragedy of Greenwood is made especially palpable here not only in the depiction of the violence but also in the portrayal of the thriving, successful, neighborly place that it is before the massacre. Isaiah and Angel give solid representations of their two at-odds idols, with Isaiah examining how the double consciousness of Blackness affects every relationship he has, including with Angel. Their romance gives a touch of softness to what ultimately feels like a timely cautionary tale for the nation’s current racial reckoning." ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

About the Author

Randi Pink grew up in the South and attended a mostly white high school. She lives with her husband and their two rescue dogs in Birmingham, Alabama, where she works for a branch of National Public Radio. Into White was her fiction debut.

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Posted in: 5 Stars, Edelweiss, Feiwel & Friends, Netgalley, Review, Young Adult