Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

The remarkable story of the Little Rock Nine is familiar to many, but what happened next? In this quietly powerful page-turner, Levine focuses her attention on the events that unfolded in Little Rock the year after the integration of the city's public schools. Readers meet quiet, 12-year-old Marlee and her outgoing and warm-hearted best friend, Liz, who is instrumental in Marlee's burgeoning ability to speak her mind to anyone outside of her family. To Marlee's dismay, Liz suddenly vanishes from school, and the rumor is that she has been passing for white. Marlee initially feels betrayed by her friend, but her understanding of the complicated nature of race relations and politics matures. Levine sensitively portrays her process as she sorts out these feelings, finds a way to stay friends with Liz and becomes involves with the Womens' Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) after the city shuts down all of its public schools to prevent integration. When Marlee's father, a schoolteacher, is fired because of his pro-integration stance, the entire family becomes involved in the Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP) campaign in an attempt to have all of the teachers rehired and the public schools reopened. This engaging story, with its emphasis on the impact of friendship and on finding one's voice when it is most important to be heard, will no doubt appeal to a broad range of readers and inspire many interesting conversations. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2012)

Gr 5-8 In this stunning piece of historical fiction, Levine sheds light on the little-known period immediately following the Little Rock Nine's integration of Central High School in 1957. In September 1958, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the closure of all public high schools in the city. This novel depicts the tumultuous era through the eyes of 12-year-old Marlee Nisbett, who is painfully shy but eventually reclaims her voice by having the courage to do the right thing. On her first day at West Side Junior High, Marlee meets Liz, a new girl unafraid of speaking her mind. Emboldened by her friendship with Liz, Marlee begins talking and interacting more with her classmates. When Liz abruptly disappears amid rumors that she is a black girl—"Can you believe it&30;.A nigger at our school?"—passing for white, Marlee is bereft but determined to uphold the friendship, at great cost to both girls' safety. In trying to sustain her relationship with Liz, Marlee ultimately realizes that there is a bigger cause at stake. With remarkable depth and clarity, Levine unflinchingly portrays racial tensions in the 1950s Deep South. Her descriptions of the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) and the Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP) campaign further lend an air of historical authenticity to the book. Readers will be moved by Marlee and Liz's strong bonds and inspired by Marlee's unwavering tenacity in the face of what seems like insurmountable adversity.— Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA

ALA Booklist (Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2012)

In Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1958, as politicians rage for and against the struggle to integrate schools, Marlee, 13, is a math whiz but she has a personal problem with mutism e's terrified to say things aloud in public. Then she makes friends d more importantly, talks th Lizzie, the new girl in her middle school, who encourages Marlee to even do an oral presentation in class together. Then one day Lizzie is thrown out of school. It turns out that she is a light-skinned black passing for white, and the locals refuse to follow the federal integration order. (Several kids and rabid adults use the n-word.) Marlee and Lizzie meet secretly, until it becomes too dangerous, with threatening phone calls and the KKK always around. Marlee discovers dynamite in a classmate's car, and yet still the police do nothing. Marlee's first-person narrative brings home the standoffs with classmates, family, and officials, but what is most moving is that while most do not change, some do. Readers who want more about the history can start with the long final note and bibliography.

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

In 1958 Little Rock, Marlee, a shy twelve-year-old white girl, is befriended by new girl Liz. When discovered to be passing for white, Liz withdraws from school. Trying to keep their friendship alive, the ever-well-intentioned Marlee almost gets Liz killed. While purposiveness sometimes intrudes, the story is involving and the setting well realized.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

The remarkable story of the Little Rock Nine is familiar to many, but what happened next? In this quietly powerful page-turner, Levine focuses her attention on the events that unfolded in Little Rock the year after the integration of the city's public schools. Readers meet quiet, 12-year-old Marlee and her outgoing and warm-hearted best friend, Liz, who is instrumental in Marlee's burgeoning ability to speak her mind to anyone outside of her family. To Marlee's dismay, Liz suddenly vanishes from school, and the rumor is that she has been passing for white. Marlee initially feels betrayed by her friend, but her understanding of the complicated nature of race relations and politics matures. Levine sensitively portrays her process as she sorts out these feelings, finds a way to stay friends with Liz and becomes involves with the Womens' Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) after the city shuts down all of its public schools to prevent integration. When Marlee's father, a schoolteacher, is fired because of his pro-integration stance, the entire family becomes involved in the Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP) campaign in an attempt to have all of the teachers rehired and the public schools reopened. This engaging story, with its emphasis on the impact of friendship and on finding one's voice when it is most important to be heard, will no doubt appeal to a broad range of readers and inspire many interesting conversations. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Successfully weaving historical events with a dynamic personal narrative, Levine (The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had) offers a riveting, frequently tense portrait of 1958 Little Rock, Ark., the tumultuous year when the governor refused integration by closing local high schools. The story is told through the sensitive voice of painfully quiet 12-year-old Marlee Nisbett, who makes a rare friend in Liz, a new student at her middle school. Liz instills some much-needed confidence in Marlee, but when it-s revealed that Liz is -passing- as a white student, Liz must leave school abruptly, putting their friendship to the test. The girls meet in secret, and Marlee joins an antisegregationist organization, both actions inviting serious risk amid escalating racist threats. Levine-s characters fall on both sides of the integration issue, but she avoids painting them too broadly, and many of their views evolve over the course of the book. The best evolution, though, belongs to Marlee, who starts off almost pathologically shy and gradually learns to face her fears, find her voice, and speak up for what-s right. Ages 10-up. Agent: Kathryn Green Literary Agency. (Jan.)