Kristin Levine

"I talk a lot. Just not out loud where anyone can hear. At least I used to be that way. I'm no chatterbox now, but if you stop me on the street and ask me directions to the zoo, I'll answer you. Probably. If you're nice, I might even tell you a couple of different ways to get there. I guess I've learned it's not enough to just think things. You have to say them too. Because all the words in the world won't do much good if they're just rattling around in your head."

The year is 1958, and show more 12-year-old Marlee is beginning West Side Junior High School. An intelligent, but extremely quiet girl, Marlee is often at the mercy of her bossy and outspoken "friend," Sally.

"Judy sighed. "Why are you even friends with Sally McDaniels?"
I shrugged. Sally and I have been friends ever since were five and she pushed me off the slide at the park.
"She likes to boss you around," Judy said.
That was true. But she was also familiar. I like familiar."

So, when she is befriended by Liz, the affable newcomer to school, Marlee is most pleasantly surprised. Marlee, who has a penchant for categorizing people as beverages, finally questions Liz as to why she is helping Marlee to overcome her debilitating shyness,

"For the first time, Liz was silent. Behind her, the giraffes chewed their cud. "I thought it might be hard always being quiet," Liz said finally. "I thought you needed a friend."
She was right. I did.
"I needed a friend too," said Liz.
And suddenly I knew what Liz was -- a cup of warm milk with a dash of cinnamon."

The two become inseparable. But one day, after a chance encounter with Sally and her mother near the Baptist church in the "colored part of town," Liz stops coming to school. Word leaks out that she's been "passing," pretending to be white, in order to attend a better school. Central High may have been forcibly integrated last year, but change has not come to West Side Junior High, and Hall High remains closed, forcing Marlee's older sister to attend school out of town. The status quo sits well with Marlee's mother, but her father, a teacher in the district, is disturbed. The tension in Marlee's household mirrors that of the town's. Liz and Marlee's friendship is a cause for concern in Marlee's part of town and Liz's; the threat of violence looms ahead.

A stellar depiction of "us vs. them" mentality, The Lions of Little Rock shows the awful consequences of race against race, neighbor against neighbor, even husband against wife. Betty Jean, the maid at Marlee's home and the wife of the pastor at Liz's church, creates the story's bridge between the two neighborhoods. The Lions of Little Rock offers no easy answers, no neatly wrapped happy endings. Brave Marlee will risk anything to stand by her friend, but her brave actions do not right the wrongs of the world; rather, they place the life of her dear friend and others in grave danger. Life is messy. Neither life nor its people can be neatly separated into black and white. There are always shades of gray.

http://shelf-employed.blogspot.com show less

This is a near-perfect book. It deals with issues of race honestly and believably without didacticism, and provides just enough context for readers unfamiliar with 1958 Little Rock to understand what's going on. These are issues kids will care about: Who gets to tell you who your friends are? What makes a friend? How can you stand up for yourself when you need to? When you learn a secret about someone, does that change who they are? It even brings in a thread about disability, as Marlee show more develops strategies to push beyond her "muteness" with anyone but her immediate family. These are universal themes, but the historical context is more than just a backdrop; kids will care about the events of school integration because they care about Marlee and Liz. I would love to teach this book! show less

I don't have a single complaint about this book. It was well-written, enjoyable, and I learned a little something about being 13 years old in small-town Alabama in 1918. I'd be happy if it got a Newbery nod.

The story's told by Dit, one of ten children, who is just your average kid until he befriends the daughter of the town's new postmaster: a super smart girl named Emma, who is black. Because it's 1918 and rural Alabama, their friendship is uncomfortable for many townspeople, both black show more and white. But it evolves naturally. Emma helps Dit with school. Dit teaches Emma, a city girl, how to play baseball. There's not a whole lot of plot until a fight between the awful white sheriff and a kind black barber results in a crime that rocks the small town--and Dit and Emma get involved in setting things right.

Because the chapters were short and filled with great details, I didn't mind at all that it took the story some time to get going. First-time author Levine was so great at setting the scene that the climax was ultimately pretty believable (which is rare in these kinds of books). Dit's moral development, and his understanding of race relations and history, never felt preachy or didactic.

This is one of those books that will be equally enjoyable for girls and boys, I think. While it is indeed about racism (the n-word is used quite a bit), it's also about friendship between a boy and a girl, and how bonding with a person who's different from you can change your life. In that way, it reminded me of [b:Bridge to Terabithia|2839|Bridge to Terabithia|Katherine Paterson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161661043s/2839.jpg|2237401], which is a pretty high compliment in my book. show less

I'm a huge fan of Kristin Levine's first book [b:The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had|4570908|The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had|Kristin Levine|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255890624s/4570908.jpg|4620259], so I was predisposed to like this one, too. Again, she creates a compelling unlikely friendship between kids that are divided by race and racism. Again, the history is well researched and you feel like you're being educated and entertained at the same time.

Did you know that the year after the show more Little Rock Nine integrated Central High the governor of Arkansas closed the school rather than let it remain integrated? I didn't, and so I was impressed that Levine chose a less famous part of history for her setting. We get the story of quiet little 13-year-old Marlee, a white girl who loves math and hardly talks. Marlee makes friends with the new girl in school, Liz, who teaches her to have confidence in herself--but when it's revealed that Liz is passing as white, their friendship takes a dangerous turn.

Kids reading this book may ask themselves, would I take risks for a friend? Would I be brave in the face of discrimination? It's a little long for a read-aloud, but it would pair really well with Civil Rights curricula.

For those who may be concerned about language, the n-word is used a few times in this book. show less