Happy Birthday, Addy

This story is centered around the types of discrimination that black people like Addy ran into in Philadelphia (and other places), including not being allowed to shop or eat in certain stores and having to ride on the outside of the horse-drawn trolly carts.

Her father, because he is black, is turned away from numerous carpentry jobs and ends up driving an ice wagon. (It was a time when people didn't have electrical refrigerators so chunks of ice were used to keep things cold.)

Addy says that this is all unfair, that this isn't what freedom is supposed to be about and the adults agree with her but basically say there's not much anyone can do about it.

The second theme of the book concerns a blind woman that Addy meets and who teaches Addy a lot of stuff about "seeing" without the use of eyes which, in Addy's case, even helps her learn to jump rope doing double dutch.

A very good story on both counts.

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