The Letter Writer

By Ann Rinaldi

Book Overview

Eleven-year-old Harriet Whitehead is an outsider in her own family. She feels accepted and important only when she is entrusted to write letters for her blind stepmother. Then Nat Turner, a slave preacher, arrives on her family's plantation and Harriet befriends him, entranced by his gentle manner and eloquent sermons about an all-forgiving God. When Nat asks Harriet for a map of the county to help him spread the word, she draws it for him--wanting to be part of something important. But the map turns out to be the missing piece that sets Nat's secret plan in motion and makes Harriet an unwitting accomplice to the bloodiest slave uprising in U.S. history.

Award-winning historical novelist Ann Rinaldi has created a bold portrait of an ordinary young girl thrust in to a situation beyond her control.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547327854
• ISBN13: 9780547327853
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.0" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

The Turner Rebellion

The Letter Writer places the fictional character, young Harriet Whitehead, in the midst of Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831. Harriet, a sort of family stepchild, sympathizes with the slaves her family holds, including the "girl" assigned to her, Violet. Harriet also despises her elder half-brother Richard, a minister with a firm hand, and her half-sister Margaret, with whom she has never gotten along. She does, however, get along with her "stepmother" (known as Mother Whitehead)and it is with Mother Whitehead that she spends a good deal of time, writing letters for the mostly blind older woman. In the course of daily life on the plantation, Harriet meets and comes to know Nat Turner, a slave who would lead the bloodiest rebellion against owners in history. Harriet doesn't see Turner as a threat at first; his preaching and polite ways make him seem approachable and reasonable. But it is this facade that eventually convinces Harriet to do something for Turner that she realizes way too late may have led to the massacre itself. Rinaldi always does impeccable research for her novels, and her insertion of Harriet into this story is seamless and realistic. Rinaldi also says in her Author's Notes that she purposely didn't treat Turner one way or the other, leaving the reader to decide if he was a hero or a murderer. But it's this detail that makes the novel feel as though it's lacking depth. Harriet is a great voice to tell this horrific story, but I needed more: more interaction among the characters, more reasons for characters' actions, more inner voice. While I felt she did a credible job, nothing felt fleshed out and the ending was way too "fairy tale" (to use her own words). Even though I did end up liking this novel quite a bit, I find myself missing the Rinaldi I used to read, the one who expanded the stories,adding to them in such a way that I felt the characters came alive from the pages. This one felt rushed, as have the last few of hers I've read. That said, Rinaldi is still head and shoulders above most young adult historical fiction writers. I'm rounding 3.5 stars up to 4 based on the research and my fondness for Rinaldi overall.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Harriet knows her place in society. She's the half-sister of the plantation owner. She does little jobs and writes letters for his mother. She notices the differences in treatment of all people and has a hard time dealing with the injustice. When Nat Turner comes to work at her plantation, she finds herself drawn to him. His God seems quite different from her brother's. When he asks for her help, she doesn't refuse him. What she doesn't realize is the part she might play in changing history. This gripping tale imagines the story of the bloodiest uprising of slaves in American History. Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Writing history through the eyes of young adults.

Nat Turner was a slave who led the largest slave rebellion in the South beginning on August 21, 1831. When finished, at least 55 people were slaughtered. The mystery is that before this occurred, he was known as a Preacher of God's Word among the area slaves. Ann Rinaldi brings the man and the surrounding events to vivid life from the point of view of 11-year-old Harriet Whitehead. Harriet lives on the plantation run by her brother Richard, who is the local official preacher. She is asked to write letters for her blind stepmother and to correspond with "Uncle Andrew" in England to get practice writing letters. Soon she is telling Andrew about how hard it is living under Richard's strict rule, when her stepsister Margaret seems to get away with terrible behavior. Her only other confidante is her personal slave, Violet, who is of mixed race. She loves Violet like a sister and feels that the Negroes should be treated better in the South. Richard is harsh with the slaves at times, using lashings and frequent threats. Mother Whitehead is known for her kindness and tries to keep Richard from such angry outbursts. His lovely wife, Pleasant, and his toddler, Baby William, also soften him. When a favorite slave, Owen, runs away and neighboring renowned slave Nat Turner helps him return to the house as he chooses to do, Mother Whitehead keeps Richard from beating Owen. But Harriet seems to provoke him to no end. She spends a lot of her time praying on her knees as punishment on the gravel of the driveway for various infractions as deemed by Richard. She likes writing the letters, though, and learns a great deal about the crops and business of the plantation from Mother Whitehead's correspondence. Mother Whitehead writes often to a neighboring plantation asking for the loan of Nat Turner, who is known for his skill in making furniture and his preaching. Harriet is curious about him herself, and goes to witness one of his "Baptisms" of a man who Richard kicked out of their own church. Nat's preaching style is more loving to Harriet, and more familiar to God and man. She likes him and is happy when he's finally hired out to the Whitehead plantation. One day, Nat asks her for the map Richard keeps in the locked gun room. It is the only map of the county in existence, and she knows she can't take it. She makes a copy for him and signs it, as he tells her he wants to travel to all the plantations and preach the Word of God. She tells him that she needs it back, and when she learns from Violet that he means to organize slaves, she asks him for it again and he refuses. Then one terrible morning, Owen wakes her, telling her to run and warn the neighboring farm, as Nat and his followers were up all night killing white people at all the plantations in the county. She is unable to escape without seeing some of the terrible violence exhibited by Nat's men, but she is able to help. Based on true events, THE LETTER WRITER will stay with readers for a long time