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Young ReadersThe Colored CarJean Alicia ElsterIn The Colored Car, Jean Alicia Elster, author of the award-winning Who’sJim Hines?, follows another member of the Ford family coming of age inDepression-era Detroit. In the hot summer of 1937, twelve-year-old Patsytakes care of her three younger sisters and helps her mother put up freshfruits and vegetables in the family’s summer kitchen, adjacent to the woodyard that her father, Douglas Ford, owns. Times are tough, and Patsy’smother, May Ford, helps neighborhood families by sharing the food thatshe preserves. But May’s decision to take a break from canning to take herdaughters for a visit to their grandmother’s home in Clarksville, Tennesseesets in motion a series of events that prove to be life-changing for Patsy.After boarding the first-class train car at Michigan Central Station in Detroitand riding comfortably to Cincinnati, Patsy is shocked when her family is led from their seats to changecars. In the dirty, cramped “colored car” Patsy finds that the life she has known in Detroit is very differentfrom life down south, and she can hardly get the experience out of her mind when she returns home—likethe soot stain on her finely made dress or the smear on the quilt square her grandmother taught her tosew. As summer wears on, Patsy must find a way to understand her experience in the colored car andalso deal with the more subtle injustices that her family faces in Detroit. By the end of the story, Patsywill never see things the same way that she did before.Elster’s engaging narrative illustrates the personal impact of segregation and discrimination and revealspowerful glimpses of everyday life in 1930s Detroit. For young readers interested in American history,The Colored Car will be engrossing and informative reading.September 2013 / 5 x 7.5 / 184 pp / ISBN 978-0-8143-3606-9, $14.95l paperISBN 978-0-8143-3608-3Great Lakes Books Seriese2009 Michigan Notable Book!As selected by the Library of MichiganForeword magazine 2009 book of the Year!Silver winner in the category of Juvenile FictionWho’s Jim Hines?Jean Alicia Elster“A lively and engaging story that issteeped in history but cleverly weavesin universal elements of family, fathersonrelationships, boyhood friendships,and life’s challenges.”—Juanita Moore, president and CEOof the Charles H. Wright Museum ofAfrican American History in DetroitWho’s Jim Hines? is a story based onreal events about Douglas Ford, Jr., atwelve-year-old African American boygrowing up in Detroit in the 1930s.ages 8+2008 / 5 x 7.5 / 152 pp / 10 illusISBN 978-0-8143-3402-7$12.95l paperISBN 978-0-8143-3543-7 eGreat Lakes Books Series2001 Michigan Notable Book!As selected by the Library of Michigan2001 Award of Merit from theHistorical Society of Michigan2001 Read Michigan SelectionMail by the PailColin BergelIllustrated by Mark Koenig“A] charming and informative story forchildren...a much-needed contributionto children’s literature.”—Gail P. Beaver, Librarian, HuronHigh SchoolA delightful story that illustrates themail delivery system for Great Lakesfreighters. The J. W. Westcott Companyoperates the mailboat for theU.S. Postal Service marine post officein Detroit—the only mailboat thatdelivers mail to freighters while theyare moving.ages 6+2000 / 8.5 x 11 / 32 pp / 31 illusISBN 978-0-8143-2890-3$18.95t clothGreat Lakes Books Series(800) 978-7323 wsupress.wayne.edu 35