If you love the #PB 10for10, it's this coming Friday, August 10th! It's the ninth year for it and you can find all the information about it here! Just imagine all the wonderful books that have been shared all these years! 
Many might think that sixth graders don't have challenges. After all, they're only in elementary school. In this historical middle-grade novel, set in Alabama with racial conflicts in the race for governor (Wallace's last term), young Lu Olivera has learned she loves to run and is good at it! In the prep for field day given by her pe teacher, Mrs. Underwood, Lu nearly wins and is only beat by Belinda, a black classmate. Thus the ending weeks of her sixth-grade year begin, and Lu isn't quite sure where she stands.
A scene is set by Lila Weaver within classrooms, too. Lu sits in the middle, not exactly white because her parents are from Argentina, so while white kids sit on one side of the room and black kids on the other, Lu is smack in the middle. This year friendships change as some girls say they're leaving for the new private school, and Lu's earlier friends, Phyllis and Abigail, are pulling away to the tune of not-nice Missy. It is a mixed-up and new world for Lu, but with the running and support from her older sister who works for the man running against Wallace and her friend, Sam, whose family also supports that candidate, somehow it works. And it works finally when Lu realizes that true friends are "always" friends, no matter what color they are. Toward the end, Lu realizes she has two friends with "brains and gumption", advice given for friendships by her sister. She says to herself: "Sometimes shy people are pretty gutsy, deep down. Sometimes they're not, but then they put their minds to it and figure out how to grow gumption. Maybe that's starting to happen to me."
Lu tells her story, honest in sharing her worries and hurts, her mixed feelings when thinking about girl and boy stuff, and trying hard to do the right thing, but feeling shy often when she knows she should speak up. Red Grove, Alabama is a fictional town, but the story is inspired by the author's real experiences growing up in Alabama. It's a basic story and at times, I wanted more details, then realized that those basics are enough for a middle-grade story, will inspire further reading and research into this historical time period along with interesting conversations.
