As a child, author Mary Ann Rodman moved from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi. Her father was an FBI agent. The year was 1964. Rodman’s own experiences form the basis of this novel about an 11-year-old white northern girl thrust into the heart of southern unrest when her family moves to Mississippi just as school integration becomes a reality. Alice Ann Moxley is still trying to adjust to the southern culture, climate, and accents when Valerie Taylor becomes the first Black child to attend Alice Ann’s new school. Although Alice Ann would like to be friends with Valerie, she’s under intense social pressure not to be. At the same time, Valerie doesn’t seem very interested in getting to know Alice Ann. Finally the two girls do make a few small strides toward friendship, but when Alice Ann sees a chance to be accepted by the most popular girls in her class, she finds it harder and harder to do what she knows is the right thing. When the popular girls begin to target Valerie with hateful tricks and cruel shunning, Alice silently goes along. Rodman’s honest narrative places the very human Alice in the midst of a struggle that will resonate for any child who has ever condoned injustice with silence. Many details firmly grounded Rodman’s story in the mid–1960s, from the Beatle-crazy girls to the increasingly insidious nature of the violence that permeates the thinking and actions of some of the people Alice Ann meets. While some of the secondary characters are not as well developed as others, this is a thoughtful look at difficult times times. The story that is never too heavy, or heavy-handed, despite the challenging issues it explores. (Ages 10–13)

Mississippi and integration in the 1960s

The year is 1964, and Alice Ann Moxley's FBI-agent father has been reassigned from Chicago to Jackson, Mississippi, to protect black people who are registering to vote. Alice finds herself thrust into the midst of the racial turmoil that dominates current events, especially when a Negro girl named Valerie Taylor joins her sixth-grade class -- the first of two black students at her new school because of a mandatory integration law. When Alice finds it difficult to penetrate the clique of girls at school she calls the Cheerleaders (they call her Yankee Girl), she figures Valerie, being the other outsider, will be easier to make friends with. But Valerie isn't looking for friends. Rather, Valerie silently endures harassment from the Cheerleaders, much worse than what Alice is put through. Soon Alice realizes the only way to befriend the girls is to seem like a co-conspirator in their plans to make Valerie miserable. It takes a horrible tragedy for her to realize the complete ramifications of following the crowd instead of her heart.

An unflinching story about racism and culture clash in the 1960s.