paid Mr Parker and headed toward Amari’s house Jackie was never in a huge hurry to go home Her mom was a maid for a rich white family in Milton and usually didn’t get home until after dinnertime Walking the twelve blocks from Mr Parker’s shop to the Johnson house never seemed to take very long Jackie and Amari could talk nonstop for hours especially after being practically silent all day at school They’d been the best of friends since their kindergarten days Did you see how half the pages of my science book fell out today Amari asked Jackie These books must be twenty years old I honestly have no idea how I’m going to keep this pathetic old thing together until the end of the school year I know Jackie said The same thing happened to my math book last year That’s because most of our textbooks are hand 8
Never Jackie replied If you are smart Does that happen at Isaiah’s school me-downs from wealthier towns or la-di-da neighborhoods in Boston By the time we get them the books have already been deemed junk so they get passed along to inner city schools like ours Sometimes the books are so old that information is out of date Amari wondered enough to get into Boston Latin And a boy Amari interrupted Yeah yeah and a boy Jackie continued Like I was saying if you get into Boston Latin then you get books in fabulous condition and excellent teachers My brother says the science labs there are amazing He wants to be a marine biologist when he grows up Jackie’s older brother Isaiah was sixteen two years older than Amari and Jackie But they were all excellent students and took 9
whatever advanced classes they could Amari often got end-of-the-year awards for her hard work and good grades Amari was unusually quiet for a minute Her forehead was crinkled and her eyes seemed to be looking in the distance Jackie knew better than to interrupt her friend’s thoughts Finally Amari asked Do you think it would be better to stay at a school like ours or be one of the Little Rock Nine Wow girl where do you come up with this stuff I was just munching on my Bit O-Honey and your brain is in full-speed ahead mode Let me think out loud The books and supplies at Central High School in Little Rock are probably heaps nicer than what we have It is a white school after all But nobody hates us at Charles Taylor Well maybe that nasty girl Kishana But she doesn’t like anyone Nobody gets in our way when we walk into the building We don’t 10
need the National Guard to protect us Amari agreed Yeah I think you’re right Jacks Remember how white kids ripped at Elizabeth Eckford’s clothes They even clawed at her skin like animals It was horrible All nine of those kids had a rough time at Central High I don’t know if I could have kept going day after day when I knew no one wanted me there Me neither Do you think schools in Boston will become integrated soon Amari I guess at some point But after what’s happened in Little Rock I doubt the people in charge are in a big hurry for what you know will be trouble Did I tell you about my cousin Ronna one of my Auntie Laila’s kids She was fed up with the crummy supplies at her school So she started a letter-writing campaign to ask for equal funding for white and black schools Dozens of her classmates wrote letters and they mailed them to the 11
