Catherine Marshall (3) (1907–)

Not long after Julie enters high school and joins the glee club, she begins dreaming of having a serious singing career in the future. But holding on to dreams isn't the easiest thing at a school where she's in the racial minority in Julie's Heritage by Catherine Marshall.

This book from the 1950s really piqued my interest because of a mix-up. I found the book credited in several places to the well-known author who wrote the classic historical novels Christy and Julie and who passed away in 1983. Finding it a little hard to believe that the same author would've written this young adult novel about a Black teenager, I did a little more digging and found out that a different Catherine Marshall, who passed away in 1964, wrote Julie's Heritage and one other YA novel.

This book had at least six printings and was published in more than one language. I understand it was quite an important book at the time, addressing race relations among young people and being nominated for at least one book award.

However, I didn't personally find the writing here to be the best. I expected the old-fashioned feel but not the juvenile tone of it, sounding as if the novel had been aimed at a children's audience. Although it's a story about teenagers, the characters seemed to me like grammar school students for much of the book. The phrasing/writing style is rather repetitive, and the story has a rushed, cursory, choppy flow, oftentimes only giving important events a quick mention after the fact. Because so much of what happened never felt fully fleshed out, I didn't connect too well with the characters and what they were going through.

Also, I can't say the read held a convincing ring of authenticity for me. It sounded much to me like someone endeavoring to write about the Negro experience at the time rather than writing from the experience. I know very little about the author, so there's a lot I can't say for sure. And during a period when diverse YA fiction was so rare and the heated, controversial Civil Rights Movement was underway in the US, it must have taken courage for any author who'd try to bring something different like this to the publishing table.

Even so, I can definitely say I'm glad I'm living at a time in the history of the book world where more (not all, but more) people have started to realize the importance of hearing diverse perspectives directly from diverse voices with their inborn legacy and the lived experience from their culture. This book lover in the 21st century takes neither her reading nor her writing for granted.… (meer)