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Guardian Julius Lester Books

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Guardian Julius Lester Books

This writing was a long short story that served as a prelude to a very informative afterword concerning lynching in the United States. I never have run across the fact that the very word itself was taken from a judge who started the practice.Tidbits like this(along with the fact that there was no formal federal repudiation of the practice until 2005!), Made this a book well worth reading.


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Guardian Julius Lester Books Reviews

We don't judge books by their covers --- or spines. Julius Lester's GUARDIAN may be the reason for that. This thin volume looks like it's so short that it doesn't have enough time to be interesting, but it packs quite the punch.

Ansel Anderson works at the store owned by his father, Bert. He knows that someday he will grow up and take over from his dad, and then later he will have a son who will do the same. Things never change. His friend Willie, who is black, also knows that things never change. No matter what Ansel tells him, Willie always calls him Mister, and Willie seems content to be stuck in his role below Ansel. It's 1946, and things like segregation, sharecropping and racism are as natural as breathing.

When Ansel and Willie are out walking, they run into Zeph Davis, son of the richest man in town. The Davis family is legendary --- so legendary, in fact, that the town is named after them. It would be nothing to run into Zeph, except that he is horrible and mean, and happens to be walking with Mary Susan, who Ansel may have a crush on and who may just have a crush on Ansel as well. Everyone exchanges words, and Mary Susan, the preacher's daughter, insults Zeph, making him angry.

When a terrible crime occurs just a few days later, it is only Ansel and Willie who know the truth about what has happened, and only Ansel, as a young white man, who has the power to right the wrong. But he is just meek enough that correcting an error turns out to be very hard to do.

GUARDIAN is subtly poignant, and it shines not only in its simple story but also in its storytelling. Lester's language is beautiful, and his prologue is a poetic beginning to a serious, sad story. This turns what could be wholly depressing into something more hopeful, and it's not just because we know that that era is over. This isn't for the faint of heart, but it's just graphic enough to be effective without being gory. Some things in history were ugly and light should be shed --- Lester does this without losing his reader.

Both a wonderful novel and a history textbook, GUARDIAN would be an excellent read for a high school student. Lester includes an appendix, a letter to the reader and a satisfying epilogue from Ansel's point of view. This book is a gift to the historical fiction genre, because it neither glosses over the less shiny parts of history nor does it pretend that people who lived a long time ago were completely different from those who are living now. Ansel acts like a 14-year-old boy, has thoughts about girls as any boy entering puberty would, and is a bit scared of his father like any boy. This would be an excellent read for anyone, whether they like historical fiction or not.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez
Fourteen year old Ansel is growing up in the small town of Davis, Georgia in 1946. He spends most days working in his family's general mercantile store. When he is given some free time, he prefers to roam in the woods around town with his best friend, Willie. Willie works as a stockroom employee for Ansel's father Bert. This friendship has a pivotal role in the story, as Bert is a bit of a white supremacist, and Willie is black. Ansel's mother Maureen is the complete opposite, actually growing quite disgusted at her husband's opinions but he shrugs off his beliefs as "hey, it's the way the world is.." Maureen gets to the point where she fears Ansel possibly one day being influenced by his father's racism, so she does her best to come up with a way to get her son out of town.

Before that happens though, Ansel sees multiple sexual attacks brought upon Mary Anne, a neighborhood girl he cares deeply for; attached to those assaults, Ansel later witnesses a hate crime that leaves an innocent man dead. For the rest of his life Ansel is wracked with guilt over not being more vocal about bringing actual criminals to justice, rather than allowing innocent bystanders to take the fall.

Even being just under 130 pages, this story is quite the historical fiction gut punch! One of those ones that never promises to be a cheerful or even fun read, but most definitely an important one. The town of Davis in this story is one chock full of racists, with just a few residents -- among them Ansel, and Esther Davis, a member of the richest and one of the most racist families in town, having earned much of their wealth from running a cotton plantation primarily staffed by black employees. Esther is one of the few white people in town who offer medical help to assaulted black employees (usually females who have been raped by her nephew Zeph) or bring food to much older employees who struggle to maintain the strength for cotton picking. Any push toward change in the general thinking of a society is a start, but as you can imagine, with the winds of change largely being carried by just two or three people at a time, it can be an uphill battle for some time.

Author Julius Lester doesn't hold back in his desire to educate his readers on this grim period of history. In fact, there are pages at the back of the book just of charts showing the lynching percentages for all the lower 48 states between 1882-1968. The inclusion of this historical data shows the reader that hate doesn't see color, whites and blacks alike being victimized (though the higher percentage is with the African American community). While lynching may not be as common an occurrence in today's world, racism and hate crimes most definitely are still going strong. The take away from this novella is that the hate just needs to end. Full stop. A tall order, I know, one that may not happen in this lifetime, but stories like this one inspire me to keep doing my part to push for more love, everywhere to everyone. It makes me hopeful for a time that sees the end of the killing of innocents, the end of putting everyone in a category, the end of racial blanket statements altogether -- "white people be like" / "black people be like", etc. Stories like Guardian make me hopeful for a time when people can just embrace the awesomeness of cultural variety!

Though Lester's writing style made this as much of an enjoyable reading experience for me as this sort of topic can be, this book is truly a tough read. But as I said earlier, an important one. Sometimes reality and truth stings but you still gotta feel and hear it to make you a better, more empathetic person.

POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING There are a number of scenes that prove tough to stomach in this short story. Among them, a teen girl getting violently sexually assaulted and a frog slowly being dismembered by a sociopath while still alive.
This book is very intense and well written. However, it's subject matter is too intense for children younger than 16 or grade level less than a junior (11th grade). This book was placed on a summer reading list for my 12 year old granddaughter. I am very glad that I read it first before she did. I will recommend it to her later on in life but not at 12 going into the 8th grade. For an adult - I recommend this book highly.
This is a short, easily-read book. But it's powerful, moving, well-crafted, thought-provoking, artful and extremely well-written. I was taken in by the author's ability to describe different shades of silence between people, sometimes contented, sometime contentious. He has a gift with the turn of a phrase so feel like you know exactly what he means.

It's implicit that the readers of the novella all agree racism is horrible for everyone. But the author didn't abuse that assumption; he avoided cheap, easy, gimmicky one-dimensionalism. The conclusion isn't "Aren't those racist people terrible?" In the characters, we see our own shortcomings. But it's also a message of inspiration, strength and reformation. It's hard to say "This is a great book!" because of the horrible, lamentable actions describe. How can you be happy and excited to read about racism in the south? But you should. You should read, remember, and grow.
This writing was a long short story that served as a prelude to a very informative afterword concerning lynching in the United States. I never have run across the fact that the very word itself was taken from a judge who started the practice.Tidbits like this(along with the fact that there was no formal federal repudiation of the practice until 2005!), Made this a book well worth reading.