Author: Kathryn Stockett

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 5/5

In The Help, there are four main characters; Skeeter, Aibileen, Minny, and Hilly. The story takes place in small town Jackson, Mississippi, during the civil rights era. Aibileen and Minny are “the help” and they work for the white women in the county. Skeeter comes back to Jackson after finishing college and is offered a job at The Jackson Journal. After she takes that job, Skeeter wants to write about “the help” because she feels they are so much more than just maids. Skeeter wants write about what life is like from the maid’s perspective.

She asks Aibileen and Minny if they would tell their stories about working in their white employers’ houses, and they both say that they will help. Aibileen and Minny ask some of the other maids if they would tell their stories too, but many maids were afraid of helping because they thought they were either going to be shot, or they were going to go to jail for helping.

In the end, the book is published and it becomes very popular. One of the meanest women in town, Hilly, figures out that Aibileen and Minny helped. After writing the book, Skeeter gets a job in New York, and all the maids feel better about telling life from their side. Aibileen even thinks she might become a writer.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes history or stories about people. The author has a lot of imagery that really makes you feel for the way life was in the south during the time. It’s sad at some parts and funny at other parts. I would not recommend this book for children under 11 because there is some sexual content.