Verso, $34.95 (800p) ISBN 978-1-78478-022-7 What I am taking away from Night on Fire is this: being a good ally is not about me. Review: After her father and twin brother are killed in what seems to be an accidental house fire in Chicago — a blaze she just missed being in herself, while in town visiting for the Christmas holidays — Lila Hilliard just wants to put the immediate past behind her and return to her life in New York City. But when a grenade is thrown into the apartment where she's staying, and that very same man once again saves her from being killed, she realizes someone is trying to kill her — and someone else is trying to protect her — but for what reason she cannot imagine. Set The Night On Fire: Behind The Doors' 'Light My Fire' The Doors' 1967 hit "Light My Fire" broke the mold of the conventional hit pop song. The characters were complex and illustrated that none of us are all good or all bad. Express/Getty Images Billie hears about a brave group of people called the Freedom Riders who are making a stand by riding in the front of the bus to protest segregation. We Set the Dark on Fire is set in a world that feels uncomfortably close to our own. Many people from her town, including members of the KKK do not feel the same excitement. I think this is (sadly) relevant to many young white Americans today. Brave and curious, sure, but she doesn't stand out to me. Billie just doesn't come across as a particularly interesting child. This book is great if you want to learn more about Civil Rights. Thirteen year old Billie lives happily in Anniston, Alabama, where her only exposure to black people is her family's full time maid, Lavender. Find album release information for Set the Night on Fire: The Doors Bright Midnight Archives Collection - The Doors on AllMusic For Densmore and Manzarek, the freedom in jazz exposed the rigid parameters of the rock 'n' roll world, where AM radio ruled the airwaves. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. CK taught this book in spring of 2018. 1 by Tehlor Kay Mejia ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 26, 2019 Much to Billie's surprise and excitement, the Freedom Riders are passing through her town. About midway through, the author inserts some 130 or so pages of backstory. We might think everything is hunky-dory, but that's because we live in a bubble of privilege. The backstory is interesting on its own, but altogether seems redundant and thus unnecessary. Billie continues to have realizations like this throughout the story- oh, Jarmaine has to take a basket of food on the bus because she isn't welcome at the lunch counter; oh, Jarmaine's family can't afford a car or a bike, so she has to walk everywhere and boy do my feet hurt when I have to walk this long distance with her in my church shoes; oh, Jarmaine can't go to the department store where I shop to pick out a present for her mom... And more and more and more. It seems like in children's historical fiction, young white American characters are somehow untainted by the culture of white supremacy that surrounds them. He runs off before she can get his name and thank him. But this wasn't that. Her life is normal doing normal things such as having a crush on the boy next door among other things. As equality spreads across the country and the Civil Rights Movement gathers momentum, Billie can't help but feel stuck--and helpless--in a stubborn town too set in its ways to realize that the world is passing it by. How can good people be so cruel?" I liked that the white girl at the center of this story set in 1961 was realistically portrayed as a child who had inherited racist views from her family. I got this ARC at BookExpo America. However, she has the clarity to realize that she will never truly understand exactly what it feels like to be black, that the best she can do is try to learn more, to open her eyes, to provide support, to stand with her friend. Although told from the point of view of the 13 year old white girl, it’s a well researched telling of the Freedom Riders and what happened in Anniston AL on Mothers’ Day 1963. Told from the perspective of Billie, a teenage girl, who lives life in her town without really noticing segregation, because “it’s just the way it’s always been.” Moving through her increasing awareness of how segregated communities don’t always have to stay the same and her growing understanding of the world beyond her community, we as readers also grow in our own knowledge of the events of a few weeks in Alabama. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. If a law is bad, should you break it? The riders are greeted with a violent mob. "Touch Me, My Favorite Things" John Coltrane, The Doors arrive at London Airport in 1968. Probably 3 stars for that. And Jim brings in beatnik poetry and French symbolist poetry, and that's the blend of The Doors as the sun is setting into the Pacific Ocean at the end, the terminus of Western civilization. This book is a 2016-2017 Wildcats Read book. The reader is as alarmed as she is by her thoughts and feelings, as she finds the strength to stand up for what she slowly realizes is right. How can good people be so cruel?" This one is right on the cusp of J fiction and YA. Told from the perspective of Billie, a teenage girl, who lives life in her town without really noticing segregation, because “it’s just the way it’s always been.” Moving through her increasing awareness of how segregated communities don’t always have to stay the same and her growing understanding of the world beyond her community, we as readers also grow in our own knowledge of the events of a few weeks in Alabama. It's completely normal. Kidd watched a documentary about this and in the face of all that courage and suffering from black people zeroed in on one white girl whose story was the most important to tell from that. Billie starts out thinking that she's not a racist, but over time she learn. While Billie Simms doesn't grab me the same way that John Lewis and Stella did, and while I remain uncomfortable centering a white girl in this story of the true sacrifice and courage from communities of color, I think this is a good read for white children to start breaking down their privilege. Right outside her hometown, the bus is stopped, set on fire, and the riders are nearly killed. Holy problematic book! Quick, engaging read on Freedom Riders! The unknown elements from the past, from the people Lila meets to the items she finds among her father's effects, add to the overall intrigue of the story. This book was a good read about an event that inspired a young girl to think deeply about her view of the world. The characters are fairly flat and the overall tone didactic, but it's not terrible. That's the end of it. The writing in this book is fine. Honestly, the only reason I'm writing so much because it looks like only a couple other people have called anything out. Instead, the main character Billie is very real, and honest in a way that few of us can be, even with ourselves. When I first started reading, and realized that this piece of historical fiction centered around a white girl, I thought it might be one of those books about how the white girl swoops in and "saves" the black folks. For the kids in 4th-6th grade (and some 7th and 8th graders) this is a good choice of fiction depicting the civil rights unrest of the early 1960s. Format: Hardcover Western civilization ends here in California at Venice Beach, so we stood there inventing a new world on psychedelics. But someone clearly has his mind set on killing her, too, in Set the Night on Fire, a stand-alone thriller by Libby Fischer Hellmann.Lila thinks at first she's simply the victim of a random attempted hit-and-run when a motorcycle tries to run her down. Billie realizes very very quickly that she is prejudiced and needs very little motivation to try to change. Another important story for middle aged readers, and done in a way that give enough background to give context, but also not make it sound like a history class. There are multiple issues I have with this continued narrative, the biggest one being that it centers a white hero at the center of a black struggle and reduces the ones being suppressed to sidekicks in their own history. Set in the 1961 during the bus strike also tells the factual story of 12 year old Janey Forsythe who brought water and the bandages to those that were beaten. Many of the questions that the protagonists asks herself about her own beliefs and prejudices and questions that we should all ask ourselves on a regular basis, especially in light of the current civil rights issues in America. Billie realizes that her black maid/housekeeper/nanny has a daughter, has a family. We were aware of Howlin' Wolf and John Coltrane and Miles Davis. This book is unique in that Billie is so casually full of prejudi. At first, she doesn’t notice much segregation, but when she looks around, she sees much more. While I enjoyed Billie as a narrator and character, since this is a Civil Rights story, it seemed like it should have been told from more than a white girl's perspective. ISBN-13: 978-0-9840676-6-4 Worth reading. Her parents tell her, "that's just the way it is". Through her own decisions and actions and a few unlikely friendships, Billie is about to come to grips with the deep-seated prejudice of those she once thought she knew, and with her own inherent racism that she didn't even know she had. google_ad_width = 300; The Freedom Riders will resume their ride to Montgomery, and Billie is now faced with a choice: stand idly by in silence or take a stand for what she believes in. These are questions Billie Simms, a white girl living in Alabama in 1961, asks herself. It's not clear what the purpose of this is since most of, if not all, the relevant information presented here is provided in a more contextual manner in the pre- and post-backstory parts of the book. The fun in the sun sound — surf doo-wop music, Dick Dale, Jan and Dean, and The Beach Boys — provided the background music for kids like Krieger, who grew up near the beach. “The bell was silent, but inside me it kept on ringing.” This quote sums up the book- an event that is over, but keeps impacting how we respond to the world.