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Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-57131-638-7
Pages: 240
Publish Date: Dec, 2002
Genre: Young Readers
The Return of Gabriel
BY John Armistead
The summer of 1964 begins calmly enough. Cooper Grant, Jubal Harris, and Squirrel Kogan form a secret society called the Scorpions, hoping to event he score with the local bully, Reno McCarthy. But when civil rights workers come to their small Mississippi town and the Ku Klux Klan responds with intimidation and terrorism, the sultry days and nights are transformed into Freedom Summer.
As events unfold, the town begins to crackle with tension. A cross-burning on the lawn of Squirrel’s house scares his family out of town. Mr. Grant insists on Cooper attending KKK meetings with him. And at the Oak Grove Baptist Church, where Jubal and Cooper are members, Reverand Graham begins to issue warnings — premonitions of Klan attacks he says have come from the “angel Gabriel.” But then Gabriel mysteriously disappears.
Filled with suspense, The Return of Gabriel takes readers deep into a not-so-distant era. Confronted with decisions well beyond their years, the friends grapple with eternal issues of shifting loyalties and the nature of heroism.
OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR:
The $66 Summer
Thirteen-year-old George Harrington wants to earn enough money to buy a motorcycle, so he packs off to Obadiah, Alabama, to work in his grandmother's store for the summer.
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"The Return of Gabriel paints a dramatic picture of a chapter in the Civil Rights era in Mississippi, bringing the period to life for today's teens. Young people today are aware of the continuing presence of racism in our own society, and in reading this novel they can become better acquainted with the process that led to the comparative racial tolerance and multiculturalism we know today in America.”
—Anniston Star“The Return of Gabriel is a suspenseful, compelling story of boys having to grapple with decisions that are well beyond their years. Their determination to keep their friendship intact despite all the pressures to end it will resonate with readers. An inspiring story set during the contentious Freedom Summer.”
—School Library Journal"Armistead tells a powerful story, with marvelous characterizations and a finely paced, page-turning plot. This well-crafted historical novel is not only an involving story but also a potent, thought-provoking political scenario.”
—Booklist“Armistead follows his strong first novel, The $66 Summer, about prejudice in the 1950s South, with an equally dramatic story set in 1964. . . .Political messages at times overpower character development, but readers will remain riveted as the action rises to a fever pitch.”
—Publishers Weekly“This richly peopled story partakes of To Kill a Mockingbird’s atmosphere of a society in which whites and blacks cannot expect equal justice.”
—Houston Chronicle
