THE DRY GRASS OF AUGUST

THE DRY GRASS OF AUGUST by Anna Jean Mayhew

From the book flap:

On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation.  Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther.  For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there - cooking. cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally.

Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south.  But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take.  Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents' failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence...

Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage than can transform us - from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable.

I liked this book - I liked the author's writing style as it changed from present to past and back again.  But the story was so upsetting.  I grew up in the North and had no idea what it was like for blacks in the South during this time period.  I would hope that it wasn't this bad as a norm.

But what upset me as much as the despicable way the blacks were treated by outsiders was the way most of this family treated Mary.  True, she worked for them, but they treated her as a non-person.  It was just do this, do that - never please or thank you.  Never acknowledging her as a person with feelings.  The young children relied on Mary and treated her with love and respect, but the parents and their friends were horrible.

This was a book that opened my eyes.