Today at Kirkus Reviews...
...I take a look at Walk on Earth a Stranger, the first book in Rae Carson's new series:
Using those archetypes and forcing her main characters—Leah, who is white and grew up in a slave state, but who was raised to believe that slavery is immoral; and Jefferson, whose mother was a Cherokee, but who was raised by his Irish immigrant father—to interact with them for long periods of time in a somewhat claustrophobic environment allows Carson to showcase their reactions to a broad range of thoughts and perspectives and experiences, especially regarding racism, gender roles, slavery, and the treatment of Native Americans during the Westward Expansion. Leah, especially, has a great learning arc—she slowly comes to the realization that recognizing injustice is all well and good, but if you recognize it and don’t speak out about it, then you’re actually part of the problem, and complicit in allowing it to continue.