Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Published by Candlewick Press on October 9th 2018
ISBN: 0763681148
Pages: 304
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Hearts Unbroken

 

Lou is a member of the Muscogee Creek nation and lives with her extremely supportive family in Kansas.  This book epitomizes Kansas and its history.  Besides receiving excellent grades, Lou is a features reporter on her school newspaper.  Her brother, Hughie, will be playing the part of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.  Being Kansas, a non-white person playing the Tin Man is a very big deal.  The major conflict involves discrimination, bias, and people speaking without thinking of how their words can hurt.  Readers learn that L. Frank Baum wrote editorials speaking against the native peoples and wishing they were all dead.  When Hughie learns this, he withdraws from the play.  Lou and her boyfriend, Joey, have a huge fight when she tries to compare her family heritage to his and only ends up voicing stereotypes to him.  It was excellent to read of the conflict that Native people have suffered in order to make readers more sympathetic to their trials. But I never quite bought into Lou and Joey’s relationship.  It didn’t quite ring true.

This book is recommended for grades 9-12.

 

Reviewed by Ellen Spring, Oceanside High School, Rockland