10 yr old Belle Teal lives with her mom and ill grandmother and faces many challenges. The book is set around the 1960’s and Belle teal goes to an all white school until they decided to change that. The emotions in the book can go from sad to happy in the blink of an eye but, there can be very dull moments in the book where I just wasn’t interested and there were times when I couldn’t stop reading to know what happened next. The book deals with many difficult aspects of growing up; Belle Teal encounters racism, death, abuse, and other harsh realities of adulthood. However, she proves to be a strong, young, women with a good sense of right and wrong. Belle teal likes to fight for what she believes in.
The book starts off with Belle Teal and her best friend Clarice very excited for their first day of fifth grade. They finally have their most favorite teacher ever young, pretty, Miss Casey. The couple days of school for Belle Teal goes very good on the inside where she makes a new friend Darryl (one of the African- American children) besides Vanessa’s (HRH) mean comments towards Belle Teal that happens every day, but on the outside standing out there the whole day are parents protesting the African American children now going to their school. The worst person protest is big boss. (Little boss’s dad, little boss is Belle Teals best friend) He causes a lot of problems throughout the book. In the Belle teal learns a very good life lesson and so do you.
The book is a very unpredictable. Belle’s voice is so convincing that at all times we know where she’s coming from. Yet her voice is so unremarkably real and childlike. This world is full of everyday heroics, especially in this society’s schools. With school’s cliques and cruel kids it’s hard to stand up for what you do believe in. In this book Belle teal shows that it’s okay not to fit in and everybody is not how they seem. There’s a lot to learn from the way Belle Teal tells her story. The characters she tells us about are real ones we believe in completely, and consequently care about.
Belle Teal herself in a kid we don’t have to worry about. Even if she has to wear shoes that are two small and clothes that may have a small hole in them sometimes she is a very strong girl who doesn’t care about those things. Even if her mother has to dig into Belle teals small collage fund just to get through secretarial school. Her grandmother is rapidly forgetting every little thing plus all the things she has to deal with at school. In conclusion we just know by the end of the book that this kid will be just fine.
I absolutely do recommend this book to kids and teens, or even adults if you’re into these books. It teaches you life lessons and makes you feel luck about the life you have now. The book inspires you and lets you know the point of view of a kid who doesn’t have much but still makes it through.