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Book Summary and Reviews of The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

The Lions of Little Rock

by Kristin Levine

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  • Jan 2012, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Two girls separated by race form an unbreakable bond during the tumultuous integration of Little Rock schools in 1958.

Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn't have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say, especially to Sally, the resident mean girl. Liz even helps Marlee overcome her greatest fear - speaking, which Marlee never does outside her family.

But then Liz is gone, replaced by the rumor that she was a Negro girl passing as white. But Marlee decides that doesn't matter. Liz is her best friend. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are willing to take on integration and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families.

Ages 10+

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. This engaging story, with its emphasis on the impact of friendship and on finding one's voice when it is most important to be heard, will no doubt appeal to a broad range of readers and inspire many interesting conversations." - Kirkus Reviews

"Starred Review. Successfully weaving historical events with a dynamic personal narrative, Levine... offers a riveting, frequently tense portrait of 1958 Little Rock, Ark." - Publishers Weekly

This information about The Lions of Little Rock was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Nyah

Neverending Friendship
This book is truly well written.Marlee, unlike others in Little Rock during segregation times has put colors of sin aside just to be with her one and only friend even if she is colored. She even managed to help re-open schools (not integration nor segregation , education) and try to show people that integration is not bad. Her friend is colored and she helped her get her voice heard.This is truly my favorite novel.

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Author Information

Kristin Levine Author Biography

She is a mom and writer in Alexandria, Virginia. After she graduated from Swarthmore College in 1997, Kristin Levine has been everything from an au pair in Austria to a screenwriting instructor in Washington, DC. Her first novel The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had came out in 2009. Her second novel The Lions of Little Rock was published in January 2012.

Link to Kristin Levine's Website

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