Who Are You, Trudy Herman?

As a little girl, Trudy Herman is taught to stand up for truth by her much-loved grandfather. Then in 1943, Trudy’s childhood drastically changes when her family is sent to a German-American Internment Camp in Texas. On the journey to the camp, Trudy meets Ruth, who tells her and her friend Eddie the legend of the Paladins—knights of Emperor Charlemagne who used magic gifted to them by the heavens to stand up for virtue and truth. Ruth insists both Trudy and Eddie will become modern-day Paladins—defenders of truth and justice—but Trudy’s experiences inside the camp soon convince her that she doesn’t have what it takes to be a knight. After two years, her family is released from the camp and they move to Mississippi. Here, Trudy struggles to deal with injustice when she comes face to face with the ingrained bigotries of the local white residents and the abject poverty of the black citizens of Willow Bay. Then their black housekeeper—a woman Trudy has come to care for—finds herself in crisis, and Trudy faces a choice: look the other way, or become the person her grandfather and Ruth believed she could be?

Author: B. E. Beck

Publication Date: May 8, 2018

Categories: Award-Winning, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Spring 2018

Description
About the Author

Description

2020 American Fiction Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction
Reader’s Favorites Book Awards Finalist in Young Adult—Coming of Age

Featured in Bookstr’s “2018’s Top 15 Unputdownable YA Reads”

“Told with deep empathy, this tale illuminates a little-known but relevant aspect of U.S. history and deftly explores privilege and injustice in their many forms.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Confronting questions of inequality, injustice, and poverty, readers will ask themselves, ‘Who would I be?’ B.E. Beck explores America surrounding World War II, illuminating the story of a girl setting her moral compass. Trudy’s struggles leap off the page, relevant now more than ever.”
–Jennifer Rainman, Librarian

“Through Trudy Herman, B.E. Beck illustrates the toils and triumphs of looking absurdity, indifference to suffering, and condescension straight in eye, and in doing such, builds solidarity across racial, national, and cultural differences. It’s an insight into empathy, the relevance of which in many ways continues to define the United States today.”
–Kristin Gissberg, Ph.D German Philosophy, Berlin, Germany

“This novel offers a window into a lesser-known aspect of internment in WWII…When a regular girl confronts extraordinary challenges, this novel forcefully asks what it takes to stand up for what is right.”
—Booklist

“The plot is fast, driving, and great for reluctant readers….Great for school libraries as it offers a viewpoint of the effects of World War II at home.”
—School Library Journal

“Give this to fans of historical fiction during this particular time period and to young adults interested in social justice issues.”

—VOYA magazine

About the Author

B. E. Beck is an educator and writer. She taught at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, before moving to the Seattle College District. She and her husband live in the Seattle area. Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies.