Lives of Our Own

by Lorri Hewett

Book Overview

Shawna and Kari have nothing in common--except maybe a brother or sister theyve never known Dessina, Georgia, is culturally a world apart from Denver, Colorado, as Shawna Riley discovers practically... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525459596
• ISBN13: 9780525459590
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7

Customer Reviews

lives of our own

Lives of Our OwnKid Review This is an amazing book. It is very descriptive and has a lot of suspense. It shows the reader many important lessons, including "don't judge a book by its cover." Lives of Our Own is a must-read. This story is about two girls (Shawna and Kari) and their parents. Shawna is a black girl who decided to go with her dad after her parents divorced. She has a strong personality and always speaks her mind. Kari, on the other hand, is shy, white, and one of the popular (in-crowd) people in her high school. Both girls are classmates, and so were their parents. Life is turned upside down when suspicions grow about their parent's relationship. Was it more than just friendship? Did something happen? This book is stuffed with cliffhangers and a very wide range of emotions. I give it 9 out of 10.

A great story that shows real life problems

Lives of our Own, by Lori Hewett, begins when Shawna, a black girl from Denver, finds that a popular girl from her high school, Kari Lang, threw a rock through her window because of an editorial she wrote about the Old South Ball, a Gone With the Wind themed dance for the white kids at school. For a while after that, Kari and Shawna ignore each other, but when Kari and Shawna find out that Kari's mother and Shawna's father knew each other in high school, they form a bond. One day, Kari is looking through old yearbooks, and she finds that neither her mother nor Shawna's father were at the high school their senior year, she knows that something is up. To find out what happens, read this book. I truly loved this book because you could fell the bonds of friendship forming, the friendship being tested, and how discrimination hurts everyone. It had a lot of twists and turns, and almost nothing is what it seems at first. Overall, the book was very good. If there were a sequel to this book, I would definitely buy it.

Modern Day Racism

This tale of conflict lying between blacks and whites is told form the point of view from two girls: Shawna and Kari. Shawna, editor of the newspaper, moves to this small Georgian town after her parents divorced shortly before. Shawna comes from a wealthy African-American family and becomes the envy of Kari, a small town girl with little knowledge of the outside world. The beginning chapter of the book starts with a rock flying through a window, thus setting Shawna and Kari on a collision course with one another. While these two teenage girls might think they have nothing in common, they soon learn differently. Once arriving at her new school, Shawna realizes that this town that her father grew up in is not like her hometown in Colorado. Here blacks and whites still do not see each other as equal. While there are no set rules dividing them, they still do not socialize or concern themselves with each other's business. When Shawna's friend wants his relationship with a white girl recognized, a whole new set of obstacles arises. At the same time, Kari's world becomes so intertwined with Shawna's after a recent discovery that she finds it hard to choose between the life she knew and the new life that Shawna shows her.This story is well written and keeps the reader in suspense. Even though the general public believes that racism died in the 1960s, this book suggest otherwise. What happens when two girls are thrown at each other with all their differences exposed on the surface, while, much to their dismay, underneath they learn they hold strikingly similar pasts.

Lives of Our Own

This book was about a girl named Shawna who moves to a small town in Georgia after her parents get divorced. She has trouble fitting in. She came from a very rich town. She writes and editorial for her school newspaper against a dance for all white people. Many people get angry. One such person is a white girl, Kari. After Kari and Shawna start to talk they soon discover a hidden secret between them. They start to share interests and hang out together. Kari is very popular and starts to be questioned by her friends. Why was she hanging out with Shawna anyway? When Kari and Shawna run away to discover the truth, they don't know what they are truly looking for. They soon become very surprised with the truth. I really enjoyed this book. I though it was very good and dealt with real life situations. It also taught a good lesson on racism, accepting who you are, and being yourself.

What is the difference?

My book was about two young girls with nothing the same. Their names were Kari and Shawna. These girls were two different people in two different worlds. Kari was whit and Shawna was blck. Where these girls lived was a very racist town. When Shawna began school at Dessina High she joined the school newspaper. No one liked her because of her color and Shawna didn't care. She found out about this Old Southern Ball and she figured she would put in her two sense. This was where all the white kids got together and made fun of all the blacks. When Kari read about this she went to Shawna's house late at night and through a rock through her window. Shawna chased her down the road and caught her but when Shawna saw who it was she let her go because she was in shock!!! The became friends when they found out thier parents were friends. This book was very interesting. It gave me a good perspective on life. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the inside on racism and really understand there isn't a true answer on why it should really happen.