Beka Lamb (Caribbean Writers Series)
Twelve-year-old Beka Lamb lives in Belize City, "a relatively tolerant town" where people with their roots in Africa, the West Indies, Central America, Europe, North America, Asia, and other places, "lived in a kind of harmony. In three centuries, miscegenation, like logwood, had produced all shades of black and brown, not grey or purple or violet." Beka knows her family's history from Gran who tells of "befo' time," when they were slaves, and now, when Beka can win an essay contest at the Convent school: "Befo' time... Beka would never have won that contest... But things can change fi true."  And change they do. Before she won the essay contest, Beka's days were filled with family, domestic work, food, school, neighbors, politics, hurricanes, and dreaming with her best friend, fourteen-year-old Toycie. Before the contest, Sundays were the days she and Toycie walked Beka's baby brother through the rich neighborhoods to the seashore and planned the redecorating they would do when they owned the houses they passed, the days Beka waited patiently while Toycie talked to her boyfriend. Before the contest, Beka lied, got caught, got punished, and lied again. Before the contest, Toycie was still alive.Beka Lambis a beautiful and lovingly told story of a few months in the life of a young woman growing up in a time and place of constant change.-- For great reviews of books for girls, check outLet's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. --From500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.