READING RAINBOW

Pretty outstanding. When I finished reading it I was bummed because I grew really attached to these characters and felt like I knew them and cared about them. I guess that's what all really good books do to you. I am a sucker for anything set in the South and anything about women, especially strong and/or obstinate women, kindred personalities I guess. This book features all of the above.

The Help is set in the South, Mississippi to be exact, in the 1960's where segregation is still going strong but beginning to be questioned and pushed back on by a few types of people. But those that want to see it remain include white middle class women who have always had hired help and believe that "colored" people should remain separated away from them and their families yet they are fine with them raising their children and basically taking their place as mothers. The small-minded in this book are many, but the heroines are as well. These characters jump off the page. From the hired help like Aibeleen and Minny to the main character Miss Skeeter, these women are like friends that you are rooting for and want to sit with and drink a glass of iced tea and just talk about life and changing the world. Read this book. It will grow on you and you will feel like it's an old friend, I know I do.