Stella Stands Alone - Hardcover

A. LaFaye (the "A" is for Alexandria) is the author of Worth, for which she received the Scott O'Dell Award, as well as The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place, The Strength of Saints, Edith Shay, Strawberry Hill, and Dad, in Spirit. She teaches at California State University at San Bernardino during the school year and at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, in the summer. She lives in Cabot, Arkansas.

Grade 6–9—LaFaye presents a solid example of alternate-history fiction set in Mississippi in 1866, imagining what it would have been like if some Southerners had tried to treat African Americans with justice and respect. Fourteen-year-old Stella's mother just died from yellow fever, and now the bank will repossess Oak Grove unless she can find her father's will and payment book. The townspeople refuse to deal fairly with her as she shares his views about the evil of slavery; in fact, he had promised to sign over ownership of the plantation to the black workers. Her only hope for keeping Oak Grove and fulfilling her father's vow is to find a Yankee to buy the property at auction. Enter Mr. Dooley, a Philadelphia lawyer. At first skeptical about Oak Grove's management—the workers hold meetings to vote on issues—he gradually comes to respect and appreciate Stella's views, and the two become partners. While not all of the characters are fully realized, the Reconstruction-period details are spot-on. Side plots dealing with the personal lives of ex-slaves lend glimpses into the heartbreak inflicted by slavery. Stella's ideas and actions are extremely modern but readers feel her frustration at the social constrictions she faces as a girl and her bewilderment and anger at the racism she witnesses.—Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA
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