Liberty Girl by Robert Black

Set during the last year of World War I, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Seventh grader Eleanor Blizzard and her mother have moved from their home in Indiana to be with Mr. Blizzard. Her father is doing essential work for the Allies in the Great War against Germany. The family will remain in Baltimore as long as the war lasts.

Not yet enrolled in school, and with no one her age around, Eleanor and teenage Maggie, the African American housekeeper of the building, begin a friendship which transcends the differences in their social and economic positions and their cultures.

In this environment of war hysteria, the great influenza pandemic, and the racial divides of 1918 Baltimore, Eleanor attempts to make friends and to do what she knows to be right.

Once in school, Eleanor is singled out as dangerously different, and is made the object of bullying. Classmates, led by Boy Scout Billy Blake, believe that she lived in a log cabin in Indiana, and that her studying German in school makes her suspect for espionage. Stuck-up Gail Jaspers, whose father is reputed to be a war hero on the Front, doesn't miss an opportunity to belittle Eleanor's father's role in the war, and the role of Eleanor's uncle, who is a medic in the field. Sentiment is so against Eleanor that she is asked to leave school for a time for her own safety. Eleanor does not want to return, but Maggie convinces her that the only way to make life better is to return.

Everyone wants to go to the big war rally at the Fifth Regimental Armory. John Phillip Souza and his band will be there as will the Vice President of the United States. Billy promises that as ushers, the Boy Scouts can sneak some friends in. Eleanor, as part of the group, does not suspect that Billy has abandoned her to embarrass her. Events lead her to meeting the Vice President, and Billy and his ushers getting into big trouble on their own.

Before the Great War was really over, an erroneous French report of armistice spread worldwide over the wire services. Historically accurate, Liberty Girl captures the glorious moment and its jubilation that the peace announcement brought. Too, the novel explores the empty feeling in the hearts and minds of the neighborhood as the mistake came to light. The Spanish influenza epidemic also involves the characters in varying degrees of difficulty.

Author Black has created the novel out of his grandmother's memories of growing up in wartime Baltimore and he paints a visually vibrant canvas of the period. His characters are in believable situations and speak believable dialog.

Read more about the origins of this story, with photographs of the real Eleanor Blizzard and Maggie, and to see the author's  Study Guide.