Come a Stranger

In the story "Come A Stranger" a young black girl named Mina, experiences bigotry that she is not used to. Mina is a wonderful dancer at the age of eleven, and is a very sweet kind girl, who loves herself for who she is. Then she gets accepted in a dance camp that is supposed to help her learn how to dance better, but teaches her something else. Mina loved being black and then she went to dance camp and learned how to hate being black. Mina is the only black girl at camp, but she doesn't really notice that and no one really shows their true colors toward her. Mina makes friends at camp and is sad when she has to leave when summer ends. Mina returns home and has turned into a snob, she has grown to hate being black in every way and feels that she is better than everyone else is. The next summer when she returns to dance camp, people start to act differently toward her, like they are better. Mina becomes miserable and wants to go home. Her dancing has changed a great deal because she hit puberty and is going though many changes. Dancing has become hard for Mina when it was once so easy. She is eventually kicked out of camp because no one wants a black girl there who can't dance. Mina for the first time in her life experiences racism. When she has to go home she feels angry, sad and happy all at the same time. She meets the summer reverend at her church named Tamer Shipp who comforts her, while she falls in love with him. Mina becomes a better person because of the dance camp rejection eventually meeting someone named Dicey and makes a great friend. The ending has a sort of funny twist to it. I really enjoyed this book and I think anyone would. I give this book 5 star.

Mina Smith loves dancing, and when she gets accepted to the summer ballet school she thinks all of her dreams have come true. When she arrives at the school, she is the only black girl there. The other girls treat her differently, but Mina is too blind to notice. The next summer, she loses her coordination, gets sent home, and falls in love with the summer minister. In this book, Mina embarks on a journey to find herself, and comes to love dance even more than before.

Wilhemina Smiths (Mina), wants to dance. She's got liveliness, intelligence, zest for life, and determination; but she is also black. Voigt produces her usual not-out of the ordinary kaleidoscope of REAL people...and this is precisely what makes this book out of the ordinary. She presents Mina's emotions beautifully and level-headedly: her love of ballet, her keenness, her crush on/fascination with Tamer Shipp, her relationship with Dicey. The concluding sentences of the book are wonderfully ambiguous (at least a little). There's disappointment, triumph... It's just great.Characters and scenes from the other books in the Tillerman Cycle overlap and are introduced through her own perspective. I'd recommend this book far more than "The Glory Field", and feel that it lived up to its potential and even surpassed my expectations.Read it!

I read this book as a young girl and loved everything about it:many of the settings were foreign to me--professional dancing, livingwith a minister, etc. and I found them fascinating. I still reread this book now, years later, because I find it magical and captivating.

Mina was so confused about her race, and growing up. Her family and friends help her through it. She realizes she is not as clumsy as she is thought to be. Her confusion ends and she accepts and appreciates her heritage. It is a great book. Great for middle school age. Read it! You'll love it.