VVMBookBlog

Kirsten is starting 7th grade in her private school worried about friends, her parents constant fighting, and feeling a little overweight. When she is late on the first day of school, she meets Walk–real name Walker–who is new and is one of three African American students at this exclusive private school. When her best friend abandons her for the more popular girls, Kirsten gets to know Walk as a friend which causes concerns for her parents and the friends who have abandoned her.

Each chapter alternates between the story as Kirsten tells it and as Walk experiences it. As often happens in middle school, students don’t treat each other very well and issues of racism and prejudice show up in how people react to Walk’s presence in their school. Then the big surprise is revealed and both families have to re-evaluate what is important in their lives.

Written by the same author as Al Capone Does my Shirts, this book maybe doesn’t have the same amount of humor, but most people will be able to relate to the unpleasant ways that characters–and real people–sometimes treat each other.