Witness is a verse novel written by Karen Hesse in 2001, concentrating on racism in a rural Vermont town in 1924. Voices include those of Leanora Sutter, a 12-year-old African American girl; Esther Hirsh, a 6-year-old Jewish immigrant; Sara Chickering a quiet spinster farmer; Iris Weaver, a young restaurant owner, bootlegger and illegal rum runner; Reynard Alexander, town newspaper editor; Fitzgerald Flitt, town doctor; and Percell Johnson, town constable—among others, some of whom are moved to join the newly-arrived Ku Klux Klan including: preacher Johnny Reeves, teenager Merlin Van Tornhout and shopkeeper Harvey Pettibone none find easy the way of their regretful decisions.
In Witness, Hesse continues the distinctive poetic style she pioneered in Out of the Dust (1998). The two books are part of a notable recent cluster of verse novels for children and young adults.
This story takes place in a small town in Bellows Falls, Vermont with the Ku Klux Klan rife. Leanora Sutter, Esther Hirsh, and Ira Hirsh (Esther's father) are main targets. Esther and Ira move into Sara Chickering's Farm House when Esther moves from New York as a fresh air girl. Leanora is an African American girl who recently lost her mother from a disease. She currently lives with her father, Wright Sutter.
The story is told from the point of view of all the characters in the town. It tells their reactions to the Ku Klux Klan, their beliefs, and how they go through the threats and dangers facing them, including people they may know and may not suspect. Each one has to take a moment to reflect on themselves and decide what path they are going to walk.