I thought this was an AMAZING book. It should be required reading for any student learning about the Civil Rights movement. It is told from the perspective of a 6th grader named Alice. Her father works for the FBI and is transferred from Chicago to Mississippi. It starts with Alice trying to make friends over the summer in 1963, and concludes at the end of the school year in 1964. Alice is called "Yankee Girl" because she's from the North and with the exception of her next door neighbor Jeb (who won't talk to her at school though because she's a girl), she hasn't made any friends. Valerie, an African-American, joins their class, but Alice doesn't know if she should reach out to Valerie, in fear of spoiling her chances at joining the popular Cheerleaders. Alice spends most of the book dealing with an internal tug-of-war between doing what's right and doing what's going to help her fit in. I felt that the way Alice handles things would be typical of a child that age. She's by no means perfect, and I'm glad that this book doesn't sugar-coat anything. It's hard for kids today to imagine how large of a gap existed between black and white in America was not that long ago, and this book clearly paints that picture. It's a tough read content wise, but I think it was well-worth it!

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