About this book:
“Against her wishes, Florence finds herself at the Colored Orphan Asylum in New York City, along with her younger sister, Eva. Believing her Mama will come back for her, Florence perseveres. She finds hope and purpose in newfound friends, in the words of female abolitionists and suffragists, in memories of her father's confidence in her, and in a sunflower patch in the back of the orphanage's garden. But when the Draft Riots occur, the orphanage is destroyed in a fire, leaving Florence to wonder if the dreams of a colored girl are even worth pursuing.”
Series: Part of the “American Stories for Gutsy Girls” series, but does not seem connected to any other book.
Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are partially quoted and mentioned; A couple prayers; A hymn is sung; ‘H’s are mostly capital when referring to God; Florence hasn’t prayed in a long time because God is on her “People I Hate” list, telling her mother in a letter/journal entry to not be mad about this because “most of what’s happened is His fault”; Florence thinks badly about a pastor who paid for her and her sister’s first month’s fee at the orphanage as his “Christian duty” and she thinks that doing that was easier than helping her mother keep them together (calling his sermons about family staying together all “in act in the end”); Florence thinks that being at the orphanage shows that “colored girls’ prayers weren’t answered” and later again that God hasn’t answered her prayers for someone; Later on, Florence does say a few prayers, though, and thinks a couple of them are answered; A woman comments about looking only to “suffering humanity, your own conscience, and God” for approval; Mentions of God & trusting Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, & answered and unanswered prayers, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of churches/chapels, church going, pastors/chaplains, & sermons; Mentions of having faith (for something good to happen); A few mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of a miracle; A couple mentions of the Ten Commandments; A couple mentions of Christians; A couple mentions of Florence’s “unChristianlike behavior” (when she pays a bully back for her mean actions to her little sister); A mention of Psalm 23; A mention of a man making the sign of the cross over his chest; A mention of a cross necklace; A mention of stealing being a sin;
*Note: Religious phrases: “My Lord” and “Sweet heavens” are both said once; Florence hopes that if her father is able to look down on her from heaven, he would smile at her; Florence says there are no such things as ghosts when another girl thinks she saw one; A comment from a chaplain about a deceased girl having her “angel wings” now; A comment about idle hands being the “devil’s workmen”; A man says that draft dodgers are “demons”; Mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of the phrase “cleanliness is next to godliness”; A couple mentions of Santa Claus; A mention of thinking a person is a phantom/specter haunting a building.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘moron’, a ‘shut up’, and four ‘stupid’s; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); A few lies (mostly Florence to her little sister); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Jealousy & Hatred; Fires, being caught in a riot, being chased and grabbed, being attacked, & being threatened (including a brick going through a window and being afraid; Seeing all of this happen and seeing others attacked as well; all up to semi-detailed); Grief (for a deceased father & also for being together as a family, up to semi-detailed); Going to a funeral for a young girl & seeing grief (up to semi-detailed); A worker at the orphanage is mean to Florence & so is another girl there who is a bully (including the adult grabbing her and nearly striking her, forcing Florence to clean the woman’s messy room, & the girl taunting and stealing from Florence and her little sister); When mad at the bully for picking on her sister, Florence ties her up and gets in trouble for doing it (which she says was defending her sister and her parents expect that of her); *Spoilers about the bully* The Matron has Florence and the bully work on a project together and when it seems to go well, Florence thinks that while they would never be friends, maybe they won’t be enemies; However, shortly after, the bully steals Florence’s part of a speech and says it first, causing Florence to have to come up with something on the spot *End of Spoilers*; *Spoilers about the mean woman at the orphanage* Towards the end, the woman is fired for stealing and though she’s glad the woman is gone, Florence hopes she has a place to stay as no one should have to live on the streets; At the end, Florence randomly meets the woman again and while the woman continues to say that she didn’t steal from the orphanage, she wishes Florence a good life *End of Spoilers*; Florence is told to carry a weapon to protect herself in a possibly dangerous situation; Florence has a “People I Hate” list of those who have wronged her and her family by turning their backs on them (including God), *Spoilers* but at the very end, she realizes that she no longer hates anyone anymore (including the rioters which will have to “answer for what they did”) *End of Spoilers*; Florence’s mother takes her and her sister to the orphanage after her father’s death because no one was willing to take them all in (Her mother plans to come back for them and Florence mentions it often, though she worries about not hearing from her mother during their time there; Florence does not want to be at the orphanage and is very upset about being there); Florence thinks about running away from the orphanage (twice, nearly doing it before being caught) and also thinks about causing a fight on purpose to get expelled (but she doesn’t as she doesn’t know how to fight); Florence sneaks out of her bedroom multiple times (to comfort her sister, but it is against the rules); Florence is concerned that something might have happened to her mother (being sick, an accident, or worse); Florence is rude to her mother, feels like her mother is to blame for why she’s in the orphanage, and feels like her mother isn’t trying hard enough to get her and her sister back (which is proven to be false and she feels a little guilty for her accusations); Florence makes comments and assumptions that the people who work in the orphanage will mistreat the children there by being sent to bed without supper or being locked in a closet as punishments (none of this is true for the Colored Orphan Asylum); As the book continues, *Spoilers* Florence starts to find the orphanage bearable because of making friends and the possibility of being able to go to college one day to become a teacher; At the end, Florence writes to her mother that she is a splendid mother and to not feel bad for sending her to an orphanage as she was doing the best she could; Shortly after writing this in her journal, Florence’s mother comes for her and her sister to take them back, but Florence decides to stay at the orphanage for the possibility of getting to go to college and feels complete happiness *End of Spoilers*; Set during the Civil War, there are many mentions of the war, fights/fighting, battles, deaths, slavery, drafts, & “colored men” wanting to fight in the war as well; Mentions of deaths, accidents, illnesses, thinking that someone might die, & grief (including for a father & a young girl); Mentions of segregation & “colored people” being mistreated and threatened (with harm and death by others); Mentions of riots, lynchings, looting, stealing, burning buildings, & beating up people (including colored people & women with babies); Mentions of attacks/being attacked, injuries, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of children being abandoned; Mentions of thieves, stealing, stolen items, vandalism, crimes, arrests, & prison; Mentions of bullies & them taunting and teasing other children; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars (Florence knows her mother told her not to use the word “liar” or call people names, but calls a woman that because she is a “big fat liar”); Mentions of hatred (including Florence hating different people and the orphanage); Mentions of guilt (mainly from Florence’s mother for leaving her at the orphanage); Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of some colored children placed in indentures being mistreated or returned in poor condition and malnourished; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of pubs; A mention of cheating at a game (Florence’s father would help her find others when playing hide-and-seek by watching where the other children would hide);
*Note: Because of the time period, racial comments and comparisons are frequently made (such as Florence thinking people like her are constantly targeted because of their skin color, a girl at the orphanage commenting that “it’s always white people” who saves colored people and then disappear after getting praise (which Florence agrees with her about), the same girl commenting again that the war is “another example of white people being the hero” and not letting colored people help (which Florence agrees with again as she doesn’t think it’s fair that colored men can’t help fight for their “brothers down south”), Florence thinks that the “white people” who came to the anniversary celebration of the orphanage only came to hear how great they were, Florence thinking that “white people” on the board at the orphanage do not care about colored girls with dreams, a woman comments about the “white folks” judging her, Florence recalls her father telling her about colored people who can pass for white and pretended to be white only so they “could live without the burden of Blackness”, Florence not understanding how some people think it’s a right to own other human beings, & mentions of colored children and people being refused schooling); There’s conflict between the Irish and colored people due to a lack of jobs (and competing to see who will work the cheapest) & the draft proclamation (when some Irish people do not want to fight and potentially die for the colored people); Florence knows some Irish people at the orphanage who are kind to her and the others, but also overhears two Irish men speak badly about those with skin colors like her (saying that a mixed race doctor is only smart because of white blood and how he didn’t come to America to fight for “Blacks”; she is shaken and hurt to hear these men’s words); Florence says that if she owned a business, she wouldn’t allow “rebels or racists” to shop there; Florence gets caught in a riot and chased due to her skin color; The rioters burn down buildings, steal, and plan to harm colored people and children (including yelling at them and stealing from the orphanage, which makes Florence think there is no safe place for colored people and feels unwanted and despised because of her skin color (an adult tries to tell her that she matters, but she doesn’t believe it at first); *Spoilers* At the end of the book and after the riots, Florence’s mother comes to take her and her sister with her, but Florence decides to stay at the orphanage for the sake of getting to go to college later *End of Spoilers*; Some conversations & mentions of women being seen as equal to men and those who are against the suffragists (including comments from men and women against women having rights); The Matron encourages Florence to write her feelings in a journal as it will do her no good to hold her feelings inside, so Florence does with writing entries as if writing letters to her mother; A couple mentions of mentally unwell people living on Blackwell’s island at an asylum.
Sexual Content- *Spoilers* At the very end, Florence’s mother comes to get her and her little sister as she’s accepted a marriage proposal and they will be able to have a home together; Florence asks her mother if she loves the man and her mother responds that it’s “complicated” which makes Florence think that sometimes mothers “married men they didn’t love for their children’s sake” *End of Spoilers*;
*Note: A few mentions of a mother nursing a baby & the flavor of her milk; A mention of a mother’s bosom.
-Florence Wallace, ages 11-12
1st person P.O.V. of Florence
Set in 1862-1863
320 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
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My personal Rating-
After reading the prior book in this series, I was a little leery that this book would only showing one race in a good light and every other race in a negative light. Thankfully, the author of this book showed both good and bad characters—which were based on their actions and not their skin colors. Very realistic for then and now; and while some of the history was hard to read with the prejudice and hatred shown, I gained more information about the time period.
I’ve been a bit burned out lately on middle-grade books featuring orphanages because it seems like nearly all of them have awful adults in charge and are just plain cruel to the main character. Thankfully, the Matron of this orphanage is kind, but Florence does have to deal with a woman at the orphanage who is mean to her for no reason and also a girl who is a major bully. Every time those two would appear, I felt myself getting upset and annoyed for Florence because they were truly awful. The ending wasn’t super satisfying for the slight mystery that Florence was trying to solve as there wasn’t a true conclusion.
There was more faith content than I was expecting in this book, but at first it’s mostly Florence being mad at God and adding Him to her “People I Hate” list (along with a pastor she knew that didn’t help her family more). While she’s not as upset by the end of the book and thus showing some character development in this regard, I would have preferred to see that anger at God being fixed on-page rather than subtly fixed, especially since this book is aimed for middle-grade ages and could be misleading for young readers. Florence’s anger at God and others is understandable at the beginning with what she and her family have been through, but I didn’t love the lack of awareness that God had been watching over her and answering her prayers (just not in the way she wanted). I was glad she was able to learn more and start to dream about the future by the end of the book. I wish there had been an epilogue to share what happened for Florence, her family, and friends in the future as I think that would have been a good ending.
For potential middle-grade readers, I think this book would be best to read with a parent to be able to discuss the hard events in it, the prejudice and hatred showed, and have conversations about how God was watching over Florence despite her not thinking He was answering her prayers.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Tommy Nelson) for this honest review.
