Reviews

Evicted! by Alice Faye Duncan

bibliobrandie's review

I think this is a really important topic about Tennessee’s little known Fayette County Tent City Movement in the 1950s, but for me the writing was hard to follow and made this important event feel less impactful.

jesscinco's review

4.0

A short but moving history of the struggle for voting rights by black citizens in the United States. Told with a focus on Fayatte County, Tennessee where white landowners evicted black sharecroppers en masse after they organized a voter registration campaign, forcing them to live in a tent city. The voices of people who lived this history act as an emotional call to action to continue protecting voting rights.

adelaideofthehollow's review

5.0

Warren county insured voter rights were protected up until 2013. Black people protested for their rights as americans, and with that battle one the war was still on. We must go through life being anti-racist so everyone can have an equal chance at life. This book would be good for ages 8 to 12 I believe as an introduction/ supplementation to what African-American people have suffered in this country.

yapha's review

4.0

Powerful and important piece of American history and a look at the continuing battle for voting rights. For grades 4 & up.

maidmarianlib's review

hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

Emotional and powerful, the illustrations are stunning. 

claireargent's review

medium-paced

4.25

rtwilliams16's review

4.0

Alice Faye Duncan has written another excellent historical children's book. Duncan tells the story of unsung Black and white heroes in Fayette County, TN. She tells how Black residents fought for their voting rights after either losing their jobs or being evicted from their tenant farms. Introducing many relatively unknown figures, children, especially Black children should develop a sense of pride in how voting rights leaders help establish the right to vote for all in TN. The book is well researched and the reader will learn alot. Lastly the illustrations by Charly Parker are beautiful.

Thanks to Alice Faye Duncan for a free review copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on January 11, 2022.

stacie_w_books's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

There’s a way to be honest, descriptive, and respectful to history while still telling a story that middle grade readers can understand, grasp and be affected by emotionally without being scarred. This is one of those books. To the point, delivering facts while making the story extremely relatable and being honest. Evicted is the story of Black people in the 1950s-1960s willing to give up their livelihoods and homes to vote. It’s a story that humanizes the Black struggle. It gives lives to thise in Fayatte County, TN who lived in tents when evicted from their homes because they dared to register to vote. 

In a time when the conversation is surrounding banning books for being honest about history and at time when gerrymandering is taking place across the US, Evicted provides a necessary truth about history. Those who forget it are doomed to repeat it. This passes the knowledge on to the young readers and introduces them to what is an ongoing battle to preserve our rights as Black people in this country. It opens a conversation of where we are and the fight we still have to come