Raised by Hand, Lifted by the Tides by Willet Thomas

Raised by Hand, Lifted by the Tides : a Southern Child's Memoir

 Author: Willet Thomas, Redden Sanders
 Pages: 170

Synopsis:
When we first meet Lily “Lil Bit” Dalton, she is quite literally drowning. This “lip flapping” event, along with others, takes place in the quirky, yet racially divided waterway township of Arcadia, Florida in 1954.

In Raised by Hand, Lil Bit recounts the years between ten and thirteen spent in the care of the woman she considers to be her grandmother, "Bubbah," and this woman's alcoholic son, Bobby. As the story opens, it’s been five years since Lil Bit’s mama, Violet, “dropped her off like nothin’ but a bit of dirty laundry,” when on “Ditch Thursday,” Lil Bit is pulled from the river by Sheriff Marin. The Sheriff’s act of heroism leaves her not only with the secret of what lies beneath the water, but also with gnawing doubts about Sheriff Marin, “the only white man worth a damn in all of Arcadia,” who also knows the river’s secret, but tells no one.

Like the tales told by the young heroines in the classics To Kill a Mockingbird and the Secret Lives of Bees, Lily “Lil Bit” Dalton’s quest to reunite with her mother, while also keeping the secret of the Massaquatta’s murky depths, takes readers on a tumultuous ride filled with adventure and mystery. But more importantly, Raised by Hand answers the age old question: What does it take to be a family?

What I liked:
Though I have read many books, I am a bit ashamed that I haven't read much books with a black girl as the main character. Now I am glad that I did through a little black girl named Lil Bit. 
When I started reading at first, I was a bit hesitant. It didn't seem like my cup of coffee. But after a while the book snatched me in it's story. There wasn't a lot of action. Quite the opposite. At least to me the book had a, I could say, calming effect. It was very pleasant to read. 
The descriptions of the surroundings showed me America in 40's and 50's in a way I never saw it before.
The book shows us what it means to be a family, to belong somewhere, a certain compactness of the community, worth of people and behavior of society. How people act and what they say through the eyes of a small girl, who is wise beyond her age.

 What I didn't like:
I considered to review this book few times in the past. The only thing that stopped me was the synopsis. It seemed a bit chaotic to me and I didn't know what to think of it at first. But after few pages, the book got better.
I prefer more action, so the book was a bit slow paced for me and sometimes went into too much of an detail about something that I believed was not very important for the story.

I would recommend the book for people who enjoy looking at the world through eyes of someone else. Maybe of a little girl who knows more then she should, were there where she should not and for us from time to time remember what it is like to be a child and wonder about the world that we created.