Heather Murphy Capps

Biracial eighth grader Indigo Fitzgerald has a plan to win back her friends Abbie (who is Jewish, with nonbinary younger sibling Taylor) and Manning (white) by purposely landing herself in detention in order to write an expose. Her activist journalism does get attention, but it also exposes even deeper problems than Indigo went looking for, even as events in the outside world echo the inequality she finds at school: a Black man is turned away from a Minneapolis hospital, and Indigo's parents - both doctors at their local hospital - help search for the man, and start serving as street medics for protesters.

Indigo decides to expand her platform by running for student council president, and popular Trinity agrees to run her campaign, but when Indigo continues focusing on more important issues than what's in the vending machine, Trinity gets Manning to run against her.

With her parents both extra busy, and her friends unreliable at best, Indigo turns to a biography and letters of Ida B. Wells; Well's (fictional) letters are sprinkled throughout the story. Eventually, Indigo finds allies in her family, including her (neurodivergent?) eight-year-old brother, Elijah; a new student; and even a few teachers.

See also: Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes; Code Red / Go With the Flow / Revenge of the Red Club; For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama Lockington; From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks

Quotes

Ida B. Wells had said, The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. (63)

She'd never been very good at compromise, but now obviously she was going to have to get better. The alternative was too lonely to bear. (94)

"Mom told me that you can have different opinions and still love someone. But if you do something to hurt someone, and you're not sorry after, then you're not friends." (Elijah to Indigo, 129)

"You can't ignore something just because people don't want to hear it right now. No one should have to wait in line for equality." (Indigo to Abbie, 140)

They were wrong....But what good did it do her to be right if no one was listening? (180)

...it is necessary to stand up for what's right rather than what makes you popular, even when that makes you the loneliest person in the world. (Ida's letter to a friend, 204)

She'd been wrong, so wrong, to try to change who she was and work so hard for their approval. She'd been so afraid of being invisible, but maybe she had been looking in the wrong direction to find people who could see her. (214)

"We'd rather get in trouble than watch people suffer because we were too afraid to stand up for them." (Mom to Indigo, 232)

"Sometimes you have to cause a little trouble to get things done, Indy. It's one of the scariest parts of being brave. Sometimes you have to speak up when something isn't fair. And it's super hard to figure out when to go with the flow and when to fight back." (Indigo's dad, 251)

Always remember that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. (Ida, 292)… (altro)

Trigger Warnings: Racism, bullying, white privilege, transphobia, references to lynching

After eighth grader Indigo intentionally gets herself detention trying to expose an unfair school policy, she gets an assignment that causes her to stumble across a book by journalist and activist Ida B. Wells - with private letters by Ida tucked inside. While reading the letter, Indigo gets inspired to investigate more into her school’s policies - and she notices that the school’s disciplinary policies seem to be enforced harsher on students of color.

When Indigo reports on this issue, her friends tell her she’s overreacting and her classmates tell her she’s too aggressive, loud, and annoying.

By continuing to read Ida’s letters, Indigo realizes she’ll have to choose between keeping quiet and taking the easy way out or possibly standing alone to fight for justice.

An inspiring middle grade novel about a young journalist being inspired by Ida B. Wells as she finds her voice to stand against the injustice taking place at her school. So much happens in this book that I sometimes found it hard to believe it all took place in one week! But this covers a few heavy topics and the author does so in a way that makes it easier for middle grade readers to understand - segregation, lynching, racism, protests, white privilege, transphobia (just to name a few).

I believe young readers will enjoy this book as it addresses many issues they see today and is written in a way they can understand and relate to. Indigo is also an amazing example of a young person standing up for what they know is wrong - even if they’re standing alone.

*Thank you Carolrhoda Books and LibraryThing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review… (altro)