Review: Verse Novel

Title: Witness

Author: Karen Hesse

ISBN: 0-439-45230-9

Citation: Hesse, Karen. Witness. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2001.

Awards: Winner of the 2002 ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award for Young Adult Readers, the 2002 Christopher Award for Young Adults, and the 2002 White Ravens Award

Review: Karen Hesse recounts historical events through the eyes of eleven characters living in a small town in Vermont in the 1924 in this novel written in verse. The story presents different perspectives on the major themes of prohibition, the Ku Klux Klan, racism, and other major issues of the time period. Using brilliantly developed characters to help the audience re-live the events of 1924 Karen Hesse brings this time period to life. The characters represent all angles of the issues presented in the novel, from a persecuted African American girl to a racist pastor involved in the Klan to a young Jewish girl seemingly oblivious to the hatred surrounding her to a female alcohol smuggler and many more. The voices of the characters come alive through the varying poetic rhythms found throughout the novel; each character has his or her own unique poetic style that conveys the differing personalities, ages, cultural backgrounds, and outlooks on life. The presentation of historical events through the eyes of the people who lived them allows readers to become emotionally involved in the story and leave with a sense of connection that is often difficult to achieve in learning about historical events. Readers will appreciate the factual information described through a fictional story, which provides an alternative to simply reading a textbook. Readers are taken through historical events in an innovative, eye-opening manner that is sure to stay with them long after they have finished the novel.

Potential Use: Witness can be effectively used as a snapshot of the culture of America in the 1920s. Historical issues including the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, prohibition, women's suffrage, the first woman governor, and the trial of Leopold and Loeb are presented from a variety of viewpoints, which provide a well-rounded look at the time period. To show the differing points of view on these important social and political issues, teachers can share excerpts from the novel in which multiple characters speak on the same issue. For example, the case of Leopold and Loeb is described from the following three perspectives:

Leanora Sutter

there was a rich boy in Chicago, a rich boy.

he was kidnapped.

the kidnappers wanted $10,000

from the boy's daddy

to bring the boy back alive.

only he was already dead.

even before the ransom note came,

the boy was already dead,

naked in a ditch, miles away from his house.

that boy was fourteen.

and now he's dead.

and he was rich.

and he was white.

Percelle Johnson

the chicago police did it.

they solved the case of that murder

of fourteen-year-old bobby franks.

it was the spectacles that

led detectives to the slayers.

nathan leopold, jr.,

son of a millionaire manufacturer,

and richard loeb,

his companion,

were taken into custody

for kidnapping and killing their neighbor.

the reports say both leopold and loeb are smart,

students at the university in Chicago.

they made full confessions to the charges,

said they'd been planning the job

since november.

if leopold had not dropped his spectacles,

if the spectacles had not been so uncommon,

they would have gotten away with it.

they would have gotten away

with murder.

Merlin Van Tornhout

it took two of them

my age

to kill one skinny jew boy.

two of them.

planning every detail.

they rented an automobile, killed the kid,

dumped the body, buried the boots and belt buckle

in different places.

they planned for weeks to kidnap,

to kill.

to see how it felt.

to prove they could.

it didn't matter about jail,

or being haunted by a ghost,

didn't even matter about going to hell.

if i wanted to, i could kill someone all by myself.

wouldn't need anyone's help,

and i'd make damn sure i got some money for my trouble.

but they were rich jew kids.

what do you expect?

After sharing these different perspectives of the same historical event, educators can lead a discussion on how the differing viewpoints were representative of the varying groups of people of that day and age.