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Charolette has a refreshing style. She includes just enough scenic and psychological detail. I love it when the author writes to me during parts of the story. The characters are interesting. The plot twists. Good read!
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Few literary efforts make race seem so indistinct and unimportant today as this work by a remarkable young Jefferson-Hemings descendant. Everyone who has felt cheated by historians while attempting to learn the full story of Americans' mixed heritage can make up for that in part by reading Jefferson's Children.
By the way--it's not just a children's book. It's for everyone. It also provides a good historical perspective of Sally Hemings as the half-sister of Jefferson's late wife, Martha, who died 19 years before he became President.
Some people's sense of reality will conclude, rightly I believe, that Sally Hemings was, in his heart, the First Lady of President Thomas Jefferson. I regret the time was not right for open acknowledgment of that. It certainly is now.
While this is catalogued as a children's book (ages 9-12), I believe it is a family book. Parents should read and discuss it with their children and teachers will develop lesson plans around it. I believe that this book will bring us all closer together.
but I found it great reading for an older audience. It was
written as a result of research done by twenty-year-old Shannon
Lanier, a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson and his slave
Sally Hemings. With slavery as the backdrop, this book is an
attempt to combine the history of one American family. Amidst
the controversy surrounding the biography of Thomas Jefferson
and his offspring, Shannon shares his family's story.
Many descendants of Martha Jefferson and several generations of
historians have resisted the claims of kinship to Jefferson by
Hemings' offspring, and they feel these claims will tarnish his
legacy. But the information collected by Shannon is not a myth,
and it is his belief that he has found the final piece of puzzle
to complete the search for the the Hemings' family tree. Shannon
never intended to bring shame to Jefferson's legacy, but he is
aware that his research will show an unveiled look at a man many
feel is beyond reproach.
The story is told with a collection of historical essays,
interviews and family photographs, and is wonderfully illustrated
by Jane Feldman. This is not the Thomas Jefferson we studied in
school and there is the strong possibility that this particular
information may never appear in history books. Since there are no
written records of the slaves' birth, and of the period after
slavery was abolished, to substantiate Shannon's claims. The
history during these periods was memorized and told by oral
historians. But in 1998 DNA tests produced evidence that there
is a link between the Jefferson and Hemings families.
If nothing else, this story should produce sensitive discussions
on how we define our country based on the color of our skin. The
introduction by Lucian K. Truscott IV, a fifth generation great-
grandson of Jefferson through their daughter Martha
Jefferson-Randolph, shares his hope that this story will show us
that the worth of a person should not be determined only by what
we see.
Reviewed by aNN Brown
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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The important characters in this story are Peter Bartholomew, Mxine Peck, Bentley and Carlise Brown, Travis, and Connie, Peters ex-wife. It takes place on an island called Nashtoba. It was a tight little community. It started on a bright sunny day and peter was walking with Maxine on the beach. They were enjoying the scenery when Mexine spots what she thought was a balloon in the water. she ran toward it. Then she started screaming. She realized it wasnt a balloon but a dead girls body. Her friend Bentleys dead body. She was lying there motionless in the water. Peter calms Maxine down and tells her to go get help. The police got there and checked Bentleys body. After, they came to the conclusion that she didnt drown...she was killed and pregnant. And the only lead to the killer was a class ring found by Peter. The golden line I'd wish i'd written was: " was it every single pair of eyes that turned from carlise failed to light on anyone else.pg38, Par2. The cover of the book shows a beach and a dead girl under the waves. this represents when Bentley is found dead and this is where the mystery beigns. the title of the book is under water because the death of Bentley took place in the water. I would recommend this book if you like mysteries. Also, the way the author would go back and forth with the characters was really creative. you got to see what was happening to different people.
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In this mystery, Gunning's clever do-it-all handyman Pete Bartholomew, turns into local sleuth, when a murder happens at a Christmas party he's attending.
Through her fun plotlines and the continuing saga of Pete and his ex-wife Connie, Sally Gunning's books are ALWAYS a fun and relaxing read. With her fictional location of Nashtoba, she creates the spirit of Massachusetts' own Cape Cod.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good story and characters you'll want to follow along with.
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This book however was written after the 1999 DNA tests that revealed that Thomas Jefferson very likely fathered Sally's last child Eston. And that he didn't father Thomas C. Woodson. But one has to keep in mind that the recent testing still don't prove Jefferson's paternity exclusively. Another male relative from the Jefferson line could have fathered Sally's last child, since they share the same Y chromosome. The book offers a number of refreshing essays written by scholars. Each one of them looks at the relationship from his/her own field. Trying to describe and explain what this new evidence means to themselves and their previous writings and views on TJ. Sometimes describing how they fell into the trap that so many historians fell into when dealing with TJ. They also try to describe the way the American mind thought about TJ and how this new evidence will influence peoples views and opinions.
The strength of the book is that it has been written after the revealing DNA tests. It also presents a lot of authors, each with his/her specific knowledge, views and convictions. Rather than just one author. But the really weak point is that the book fails to give a clear outline and explanation of the recent DNA test. That's the chapter that it should have started with. Since that test is the core, the very foundation upon which all these "revisionist" writings build. And also because a test like this needs explanation: not everyone is familiar with cellular biology and what it really means.
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