  | Long ride Author: Budhos, Marina Tamar | |
| Price: $21.88 | ||
Summary:
In New York in 1971, Jamila and Josie are bused across Queens where they try to fit in at a new, integrated junior high school while their best friend, Francesca, tests the limits at a private school.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 3.90 Points: 5.0 Quiz: 504400 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 3-5 Reading Level: 4.30 Points: 10.0 Quiz: 77770 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (06/15/19)
Booklist (09/01/19)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/09/19)
The Hornbook (00/09/19)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 09/01/2019 “Twelve is the best and twelve is the worst,” begins Jamila’s narration, a nod to Dickens, revived for her 1970’s world. For Jamila and her best friends, Josie and Francesca, all mixed-race tweens living in the same middle-class Queens, New York, neighborhood, middle-school growing pains are complicated by a busing policy implemented in their community. Budhos gracefully balances the surrounding complex issues of race, class, and equity, without losing focus on the small moments (nascent crushes, perfect outfits) that dominate the lives of her young protagonists. Queens itself plays a quiet but significant part—known as a bastion of diversity, it's still not immune to segregation. Save for descriptions of Peter Pan collars and landlines, many of the sentiments and scenarios feel almost entirely contemporary, and they'll resonate with a wide audience while adding context to still-contentious debates about the legacy of integration policies. For fans of the tone and drama of Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger (2015) and the historical lens of Meg Medina's Burn Baby Burn (2016) or Steven B. Frank's Armstrong & Charlie (2017). - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
