The Color Purple

Author: Walker, Alice
Year Published: 1982
Publisher: Hartcourt
ISBN#: 0156028352
Pages: 288
Media Type: Book
Classification: Fiction
Subject: Sisters, African American women, Abused wives
Reader's Annotation:
An expression of love and humanity--the story of a poor, barely literate black woman in the rural South during the early decades of this century, and her struggle for independence.

Plot Summary:
Celie, the protagonist and narrator of The Color Purple, is a poor, uneducated, fourteen-year-old black girl living in rural Georgia. Celie starts writing letters to God because her father, Alphonso, beats and rapes her. Alphonso has already impregnated Celie once. Celie gave birth to a girl, whom her father stole and presumably killed in the woods. Celie has a second child, a boy, whom her father also steals. Celie's mother becomes seriously ill and dies. Alphonso brings home a new wife but continues to abuse Celie. Throughout the book, you will see the abuse that both Celie and her sister got from their own father. This is a great story of perseverance and the eventual freedom from abuse suffered from an abusive father.

Reading Level: 4
Interest Level: 9-12
Awards Won: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1983)
Author Website:http://www.alicewalkersgarden.com/alice_walker_welcom.html