A short, poignant account of eleven-year-old Edith, growing up in a Jewish family of twelve children in Baltimore during the 1930's. Told in free verse, the words are succinct, and evoke the feeling of what life was like for this little girl. While this genre is a difficult sell to many students, if they read it with an open heart, it will be impossible for them not to be touched. The first poem really pulled me in;
"I'm just plain Edith.
I'm number four,
and should anyone care,
I'm eleven years old,
with curly black hair.
Squeezed / between / two / brothers,
Daniel and Ray,
lost in a crowd,
will I ever be more
than just plain Edith,
who's number four?
In my overcrowded family
I'm just another face.
I'm just plain Edith
of no special place."
Reed Reads Score: 4.5
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