Drummers of Jericho

by Carolyn Meyer

Overview

Pazit Trujillo begins her freshman year at Jericho High School and quickly realizes that people in this small suburban town aren’t used to Jewish girls with strange names. Despite the whispers and stares, Pazit wants to fit in and is determined to join the school’s marching band. But when she learns they will be playing hymns and marching in the formation of a cross, she objects. Only one person in the town, drummer Billy Harper, stands up for her, and in the end both Billy and Pazit learn something about friendship and the importance of exercising one’s rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152001902
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/15/1995
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	4.19(w) x 6.88(h) x (d)
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 14 Years

About the Author

Carolyn Meyer is the acclaimed author of more than fifty books for young people. Her many award-winning novels include Mary, Bloody Mary, an ABA Pick of the Lists, an NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, a New York Times bestseller; White Lilacs, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an NYPL Best Book for the Teen Age, and an IRA Young Adults' Choice; and Marie, Dancing, a BookSense Pick. Ms. Meyer lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit her website at www.readcarolyn.com.

Editorial Reviews

Meyer (Rio Grande Stories; White Lilacs) paints a bracing picture of conservative small-town America in this riveting examination of intolerance and anti-Semitism. Fresh from a year on a kibbutz and sick of endless fights with her Israeli mother, 14-year-old Pazit Trujillo opts to leave her native Denver and live with her college professor father and his young family for a school year. Little knowing what Jericho, ``the buckle of the Bible belt,'' is like, Pazitshort, dark, Jewish and nonconformistis alone in a school full of tall blonds who take football and cheerleading as seriously as their Wednesday night prayer meetings. After Pazit refuses to be part of the school marching band's formation of a cross, Mr. Trujillo contacts the ACLU and she is unwillingly catapulted to the center of a cause clbre that has all of Jericho in an uproar. Her schoolmates' coldness turns to outright hostility, but Pazit finds an unexpected ally in the band's drummer, Billy, who ``betrays'' his town to stand up for what he believes is right. With its unflagging pace and timely theme, this provocative novel should spark much debate. Ages 12-up. (May)\

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 6-10To escape constant conflicts with her mother, Pazit Trujillo, 14, leaves their home in Denver to live with her father and stepfamily in the small, predominantly Christian town of Jericho. Being the only Jewish person at Jericho High School proves to be extremely difficult for Pazit. After joining the prize-winning marching band, ironically called the Demons, she discovers that its routines revolve around Christian themes, with hymns for music and a cross as its final formation. Following her convictions, she refuses to march in the cross, choosing instead to play her flute from the sidelines. When her father calls the ACLU, Jericho, like its Biblical namesake, becomes a battlefielda legal battlefieldand Pazit becomes the target of malicious acts and anti-Semetic slurs. Her only friend is 15-year-old drummer Billy Harper, who finally summons the courage to stand with Pazit against his own community, and who himself becomes a target of the hostilities. Meyer's characterization of most of Jericho's Christians, while unflattering, portrays one town's narrow-minded thinking and intolerance of individual differences. Like Avi's Nothing But the Truth (Orchard, 1991), Drummers of Jericho demonstrates how easily an incident can escalate when it extends beyond school walls. With its timely, thoughtful treatment of complex issues, Meyer's story is certain to spark animated discussions.Kelly Diller, Humboldt High School, IA

School Library Journal