★★★★★★This is a beautiful book!

Written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis.

From Publishers Weekly
Woodson (If You Come Softly; I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This) lays out her resonant story like a poem, its central metaphor a fence that divides blacks from whites. Lewis's (My Rows and Piles of Coins) evocative watercolors lay bare the personalities and emotions of her two young heroines, one African-American and one white. As the girls, both instructed by their mothers not to climb over the fence, watch each other from a distance, their body language and facial expressions provide clues to their ambivalence about their mothers' directives. Intrigued by her free-spirited white neighbor, narrator Clover watches enviously from her window as "that girl" plays outdoors in the rain. And after footloose Annie introduces herself, she points out to Clover that "a fence like this was made for sitting on"; what was a barrier between the new friends' worlds becomes a peaceful perch where the two spend time together throughout the summer. By season's end, they join Clover's other pals jumping rope and, when they stop to rest, "We sat up on the fence, all of us in a long line." Lewis depicts bygone days with the girls in dresses and white sneakers and socks, and Woodson hints at a bright future with her closing lines: "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," says Annie, and Clover agrees. Pictures and words make strong partners here, convincingly communicating a timeless lesson. Ages 5-up. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is exactly how I would describe the book! I cried the first time I read it (although admittedly I was PMS-sing and I've been known to cry at animal shelter commercials...)

One of my classes this semester is "Multi-cultural Children's Literature" and this book was one of my "book talks" (I need a total of five).

I typically choose a mixture of cultural folk-tales, legends, non-fiction and "anti-bias". This is an excellent book portraying the ability of people to look beyond the fence.

Highly recommended