You'll never think about sugar the same again after you read Sugar's story. Jewell Parker Rhodes is becoming one of my new favorite authors for tween fiction! Wonderfully researched, and with a spunky heroine named Sugar, this book is a winner.

Set on a Louisiana plantation from 1870-1871, Sugar is narrated by its title character, a ten-year-old Black girl whose father was sold years ago, and whose mother died two years ago. Mister and Missus Beale help take care of her, but Sugar misses her mama and wishes to leave River Road and go North - only, no one will take her. Then, she learns from the plantation owner's son, Billy Wills, that "Chinamen" are coming. (During the Reconstruction era, many African Americans moved North, so there were not enough workers in the South.) The Black inhabitants of River Road - mostly those too old to travel North - are suspicious of the newcomers, believing they'll put them out of work, but Sugar is curious to get to know them, and becomes the bridge between the two groups. She's a bridge to Billy, too, who wants to be friends even though his mother doesn't approve (her stance softens after Sugar helps Billy through an illness). Mister Wills is no saint, but he believes that times change - unlike his overseer Tom.

Sugar's irrepressible nature, her curiosity, hunger for stories, and sorrow for her mother make her a marvelous character, and there are many stories within the story (Br'er Rabbit and Hyena, Chinese New Year animals).

See also: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper

Quotes

"Being comfortable isn't everything," Ma would say. "Life's hard. But still you've got to find joy where you can." (39)

"Nobody asked me if I wanted this kind of free." (59)

"Secrets are too much like lies." (Sugar to Billy, 78)

It's exciting meeting new people, making new friends. (129)

"Waves of the past help future," says Master Liu. "Like children. Each generation better than last."
"That's what my father taught me," says Mister Beale, shoulders back. "Each life builds upon the past." (138)

"I'm a different lucky." (Sugar to Billy, 149)

"Wise men don't fight unequal battle. You lose before you have chance to win." (Beau, 221)

I'm tired of working just to be all right. (259) ( )

Ten-year-old Sugar lives on the River Road sugar plantation along the banks of the Mississippi. Slavery is over, but laboring in the fields all day doesn't make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar has a knack for finding her own fun, especially when she joins forces with forbidden friend Billy, the white plantation owner's son.

Sugar has always yearned to learn more about the world, and she sees her chance when Chinese workers are brought in to help harvest the cane. The older River Road folks feel threatened, but Sugar is fascinated. As she befriends young Beau and elder Master Liu, they introduce her to the traditions of their culture, and she, in turn, shares the ways of plantation life. Sugar soon realizes that she must be the one to bridge the cultural gap and bring the community together. Here is a story of unlikely friendships and how they can change our lives forever.

Rhodes’ book elegantly chronicles the hope of one 10-year-old girl seeking a bigger world in post–Civil War America.

When Chinese laborers arrive, Sugar finally believes in a world beyond River Road Plantation. In 1870, five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, many former slaves remain on their plantations—only now working for a bleak slave wage. Sugar was born into slavery on a sugar plantation and still lives there, feeling constricted and anything but free. To the complicated relationship she enjoys with the plantation owner’s son, Billy, is added another, with newly arrived “Chinamen” Bo/Beau and Master Liu. Most Americans are aware of the brutality of slavery, but few stop to consider that the abolition of slavery created a new turmoil for former slaves. How would they make a living? Rhodes exposes the reality of post–Civil War economics, when freed slaves vacated plantations, leaving former slave masters with a need for labor. In doing so, she illuminates a little-known aspect of the Reconstruction Era, when Chinese immigrants were encouraged to come to America and work alongside ex-slaves. Her prose shines, reading with a spare lyricism that flows naturally. All Sugar’s hurt, longing, pain and triumph shine through.

A magical story of hope from Coretta Scott King Honor winner Rhodes.

An interesting story, set in reconstruction in a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Short chapters, interspersed with woodcuts, and the first book I've ever seen that talks about the Chinese workers who were brought in to cut cane after slavery was abolished. Sugar is a child without a family, cared for by the other freed slaves who staff the plantation. She's a strong character, and she refuses to be bound into a place -- she wants to see the world, she wants to make friends with the owner's son Billy and the new Chinese workers, she wants to find a path that doesn't harm her caretakers, the Beales. ( )