It takes courage to face injustice in life. It takes no less courage to write about the many ways people hurt each other and bleed all the goodness out of a community. Margaret McMullan in her Sources of Light has the courage to tell a story that’s all too real, all too terrifying, and one that took place in many variations throughout the South of the 1960s. Adults reading this story will remember the newspaper headlines: beatings, lynchings, cruel exclusions. But for young readers, this is history, not part of their life story. It will be no less challenging for children to read and understand the violence than it has been for adults who lived through those times. The story of how a young girl named Sam takes up a camera and learns to use it to reveal the black-and-white truth is poignant, mesmerizing, intense. McMullan’s pristine prose and clear vision of those days brings the times into focus, even if we still can’t comprehend the destructive power of hate. When Sam moves with her mother from Pennsylvania to Jackson, Mississippi, she witnesses violence at a black voter registration drive. After that, the violence seeps into her personal life in a way neither she, nor her mother or grandmother, can ignore. This is a powerful novel, one worth adding to any shelf. Read full review.

Though this fine volume easily stands by itself, McMullan links it with two previous works-- How I Found the Strong and When I Crossed No-Bob--and readers who read the first installments will feel that they are in the midst of an excellent historical saga...this offers a superb portrait of a place and time and a memorable character trying to make sense of a world both ugly and beautiful.

She seamlessly blends fact and fiction and portrays this turbulent time in American history with candor and grace.

The pace of the novel is quick, and Sam's emotional narration is sure and intimate... [Readers] will appreciate the rich cast of characters and McMullan's depiction of the momentous, heart-breaking historical times.

Make room on your library shelves for this one.

McMullan, a Mississippi native, makes her characters complex, confused, and sympathetic…In the end, readers will see the humanity of those on the wrong side of history, and may even feel compassion for them, too.

It's a high stakes novel that powerfully portrays the bravery and loss of a tumultuous time.

This book was absolutely perfect.

McMullan's book has become a way for teachers to talk with students about the civil rights movement and about race.

Among the virtues of this clear, luminous novel is its ability to present tumultuous historical events through the eyes and dawning sensibility of an intelligent young girl...infused with the rhythms and customs of its Southern setting, but no matter where you're from, you can enjoy it.

Many events from this engaging story are drawn from McMullan's own childhood in the Deep South during the tumultuous 1960s…the story has a familiar To Kill a Mockingbird feel about it and will evoke many fond memories from that time period.

Though this fine volume easily stands by itself, McMullan links it with two previous works-How I Found the Strong (2004) and When I Crossed No-Bob (2007)-and readers who read the first installments will feel that they are in the midst of an excellent historical saga...this offers a superb portrait of a place and time and a memorable character trying to make sense of a world both ugly and beautiful.

Margaret McMullan returns to Mississippi and its history in the gripping Sources of Light. After her father's war-hero death in Vietnam, Samantha Thomas and her mother relocate to Jackson, Mississippi, near her father's hometown. While her mother teaches art history at the local college, Sam begins her freshman year of high school in 1962, simply wanting to fit in like the popular Mary Alice, eagerly awaiting her first dance with Mary Alice's older brother and hoping to fill out her new bra. After her mom's friend Perry gives her a camera and ongoing photography lessons, Sam begins to notice and document the racial tensions in Jackson: the violence that spurs from a lunch counter sit in and the deterioration of her community as energy is spent on the "black problem" rather than schools, houses and roads. The town deems Sam, her mother and Perry "agitators" when they take an interest in racial equality, including registering blacks to vote. When Sam's family is the target of threats and vandalism from a white supremacist group, they must decide whether to continue helping local African Americans. Adding to the dilemma is Sam's desire to keep her first boyfriend, even though he may be involved in the violence. A regular girl with bold ideas, Sam realizes that like her father, she is caught in the crossfire of war--and she wonders if she will come out a hero, too. Her keen observations on both adolescence and the racial divide will teach readers about the Civil Rights Movement and growing up in the early 1960s. Using photography as a metaphor, McMullan shows how Sam looks for the sources of light and good amidst the hatred that surrounds her. Inserting elements of her own childhood and even alluding to her previous Reconstruction novel When I Crossed No-Bob, she seamlessly blends fact and fiction and portrays this turbulent time in American history with candor and grace.

The pace of the novel is quick, and Sam's emotional narration is sure and intimate... [Readers] will appreciate the rich cast of characters (especially maid Willa Mae, photographer Perry, and Sam's wise grandmother) and McMullan's depiction of the momentous, heart-breaking historical times.

With the camera that her mother's colleague gives her, 14-year-old Samantha records a portrait of life in Mississippi during the year 1962-1963. Perry teaches her how to use it and in many ways how to see. He also sets a powerful example through his activism and determination to do the right thing. Sam begins her freshman year somewhat unaware of the racial tensions that exist around her. By the end of the school year though, she becomes acutely aware of the situation, and she and her mother are directly impacted by those struggles. Sam's personal life has its own pressures as she and her mother cope with the loss of her father in Vietnam the previous year, Perry and her mom grow closer, and Sam meets a boy who seems to be at odds with her views on racial equality. McMullan's characters are authentic to the time and place. The themes come through naturally, as do the imagery and symbolism of the camera. Like many novels that have civil rights at the center of them, this is not an easy read, but it is worth the effort. McMullan's well-chosen words realistically portray the conflicts that Sam, her mother, and those around them face. The truths the teen learns are timeless, allowing readers to identify with her. Make room on your library shelves for this one. (Starred Review)

In 1962, 14-year-old Sam and her mother move from Pennsylvania to Jackson, Mississippi, a city on the edge of social upheaval as racial tensions come to a head. All Sam wants is to "live her life staying out the way," but she finds that hard to do after her mother, an art professor, teaches a class at the local all-black college and becomes a target of white supremacist groups. Perry, her mother's photographer boyfriend, gives Sam a camera and the courage to record the sit-ins, voter registrations, and the violent rage provoked by peaceful protests. one is demonized in this novel. McMullan, a Mississippi native, makes her characters complex, confused, and sympathetic. Most notably, Sam's love interest, Stone, seems decided in his racism and dangerous in his convictions; but his search for right is just as important as Sam's. In the end, readers will see the humanity of those on the wrong side of history, and may even feel compassion for them, too.

Following her father's death in Vietnam, fourteen-year-old Samantha and her mother move to Jackson, Mississippi to be near her father's family. Mom has no sooner settled in to her position as an art history lecturer at a small college than her guest presentation at nearby Tougaloo College attracts the censure of white community members who are, in 1962, fighting civil rights tooth and nail. Perry Walker, a photographer who also teaches at Mom's college, seems to be drawing her into both activism and romance, neither of which Sam condones. Perry softens Sam's resistance, though, by lending her a camera and teaching her how to sharpen her power of observation through a lens, and soon Sam is capturing not only images of remarkable beauty but also the pervasive hatred that has gripped her new hometown. Sam develops a serious crush on Stone, the sixteen-year-old son of a respected - and bigoted - community leader. When Perry is beaten to death after a voter registration drive, Sam is tormented with the suspicion that Stone might have been involved, and it will take a roll of undeveloped film and an enormous act of courage to identify the perpetrators. Though the plethora of references to period events sometimes makes the book feel like a history lesson, they're apropos to the focus of the novel. McMullan is particularly adept at detailing the escalating pressure on Samantha and her mother to conform to racist standards: vandalism, "friendly" advice with an imbedded threat, a harassing traffic arrest, vicious Halloween "pranks." Fans of McMullan's previous titles will appreciate the continuity of family line with When I Crossed No-Bob, and they'll ponder the legacy of race relations three generations later.

This book was absolutely perfect. From the bomb shelter that Mary Alice's family constructed to the Tang served at breakfast, to the space race, and mention of Kennedy's worries over Castro, Sources of Light is a flashback of America in 1962. McMullan captures what life in Jackson was like in the 60s and the small ways in which ordinary people helped create change. Read full review.

McMullan's book has become a way for teachers to talk with students about the civil rights movement and about race. Read full review.

Among the virtues of this clear, luminous novel is its ability to present tumultuous historical events through the eyes and dawning sensibility of an intelligent young girl...infused with the rhythms and customs of its Southern setting, but no matter where you're from, you can enjoy it. Read full review.

Many events from this engaging story are drawn from McMullan's own childhood in the Deep South during the tumultuous 1960s...This book will most likely be embraced by girls who like to read and are willing to wait for the tale to unfold. As for the older set, the story has a familiar To Kill a Mockingbird feel about it and will evoke many fond memories from that time period.