The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Katherin Stockett is a really outstanding book. If I have time, I would like to reread it again. This novel is dedicated to the lives of African-American people in the South in times of segregation, when they were suffering from social injustice and racial discrimination. The story is told by three different women: two African-American maids, Abileen and Minny, and one rather brave young white southern girl by the name of Skeeter. Their lives weave together in a strange and unexpected way, when Skeeter, a 22 year old college graduate, tries to get a job as an editor, but gets rejected for not having any work experience. Instead she is advised to write about something that really disturbs her, “particularly if it bothers no one else”. When Skeeter meets Abileen and actually manages to engage Abileen in conversation, she gets so moved by her story that she decides to pursue the writing project, that will gather the experiences of many African American maids working in the white people’s homes. Skeeter also meets Minny, Aibileen's best friend, who is known in town for her sassy and daring attitude and her sharp tongue. Together they manage to convince more and more black maids to come forward and share their stories with Skeeter, who eventually ends up writing her controversial book, The Help, about the lives of African American maids in white households in Mississippi. The book release causes a lot of turmoil among Skeeter’s white friends and puts Skeeter’s reputation in jeopardy and the lives of the maids in danger. Eventually, though, the book becomes a best seller, giving Skeeter an opportunity to leave her town and move to New York, and the maids who contributed to the novel receive their royalty payments.
In my opinion, the author of this book deserves the praise, because her book is moving, heartbreaking, inspirational, and entertaining at the same time. I can’t believe that the book was the author’s debut novel. She did such a great job with it, that the fact that the book is nearly 500 pages long, didn’t matter; I simply couldn’t put the book down. I recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it yet, including my high school students and teachers. It is a great resource for History and Social Studies teachers who are doing the unit about civil right movement and segregation.