this was an interesting sister relationship book. not much happened, although we observed through the eyes of our 12 year old protagonist the effects of skin shade on the experience of racism, of the daily humiliations experienced by people of color, and the historical event of the Watts riots in 1965. The book felt suburban and dealt with the experience of working parents and was a little to detailed in the separation of the parents due to the father cheating. the word whore was bantered about without much context or explanation. ( )

Sophie's family has light brown skin and they have moved to an all-white upper middle class neighborhood in 1965 Los Angeles. Sophie has been sheltered by her mother for most of her life. Her mother would like nothing more than to have been born white. Slowly Sophie begins to see just how prejudiced people can be. When the girls in her neighborhood won't let her join in a backyard pool party, it's just the beginning. She is rejected for a part in the community play even though she had the best audition and neighbors expect her to give up the tennis court if they want to play. The worst example of prejudice comes when her sister's boyfriend is stopped by a policeman because he mistakes her sister for being white. The Watts riots occur toward the end of the book which was interesting to read about in a fiction book.

I liked the book, but I think it's on the long side for a book of this type. It's 355 pages. I expect that in fantasy and mystery books which have a lot of action and suspense. There's no fantastic writing here either. It's just a good topic with authentic examples. ( )

It’s the summer of 1965 in suburban Los Angeles. Sophie and her family, including older sister Lily, have recently moved into a new neighborhood as the only black family. She befriends Jennifer, who initially becomes her champion as the area children show their racism - “You know we don’t allow colored people in our pool - or in our house”. Mrs. Baylor, the housekeeper doesn’t much like her. Sophie’s older sister Lily is preparing to go to college and has developed a crush on the housekeeper’s son Nathan, despite her parents objections that he is the wrong type for her to be associating with (he is darker skinned black). Lily encourages Sophie to branch out, especially as when Jennifer will be away for weeks at summer camp, and the school year is starting soon. Jennifer befriends another girl at camp, and now she seems lost to Sophie. All in all, not an a-typical summer for the mid-1960s.

And then, it happened. A minor traffic incident in the Watts neighborhood of LA escalates into the Watts Riots. Lily is panicked when Nathan can’t be reached and tries to find him. And Sophie and Lily understand more about what it means to be black in Los Angeles, in the United States.

This book is subtle, almost sneaky in how the plot builds and explodes. As someone who lived during the 1960s, I remember what it was like - endless summer days trying to find someone to play with, heat, limited TV programming, wandering the neighborhood and community to occupy the time. Karen English cleverly depicts this time period, and what it meant to be black, both privileged and not. Lily works in a shop where the people think she’s Jewish as she’s light skinned enough to get away with it. The family has enough means to live in this nicer neighborhood and have a housekeeper, but still can’t fit in. Telling the story from Sophie’s perspective allows the reader to go from innocence to knowing/seeing. The relationships in the story, between Sophie and Jennifer, Lily and Nathan, the parents, the girls and their parents seem very natural. I highly recommend this novel, to middle school and up, and its appeal is not limited to its use as a multicultural story.

Living in 1965 LA Sophie learns how to survive in an all white neighborhood ( )

Starred review, Kirkus Prize 2017 for middle grade, Horn Book Fanfare

In LA in the summer of 1965, Sophie dreads the day her older sister Lily will leave for college, worries that her friendship with the white girl across the street, Jennifer, won't survive the next year, and discovers her father cheating on her mother.

Sophie and Jennifer audition for a play, and observe Lily's new, secret relationship with Nathan, the son of Sophie's family's housekeeper, Mrs. Baylor. But then Jennifer goes off to camp and comes back less inclined to stick up for Sophie with the prejudiced white girls in their neighborhood, and police aggression sparks riots in Watts, where the Baylors live.

See also: I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day; Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis; Stella By Starlight by Sharon Draper; Blended by Sharon Draper

Quotes

I knew it was bad, but we each kept the bad to ourselves. (89)

Why were people always trying to change other people, anyway? (94)

Jennifer once asked me what it felt like - to be Negro. I said I couldn't really explain it. Just that you remembered what you were all the time. All the time....but you really remembered it when you were the only Negro around. (143)

It was the kind of thing that nobody talked about openly. (colorism in Black communities, 155)

I put my face in my hands and knew exactly why people put their face in their hands. It's because there's nothing else you can do. (after reading about Emmett Till in Jet magazine, 191)

"We were the best. They have to be fair!"
That was the problem. They didn't have to be fair at all. They could do whatever they wanted. (after auditions for the play, 259)

"Watch 'em make it all our fault. And don't you believe them police reports. They lie just as easily as they breathe." (Miss Cissy after Watts, 286)

But this is what I know now - and it's best to learn this early: You can't force something to happen. (338) ( )