about the book
It is 1958 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and twelve-year-old Marlee is about to start middle school without a friend in the world, until the new girl, Liz, shows up.
Liz is everything Marlee wants to be—smart, funny, brave, and seems to always know the right things to say. She teaches Marlee to be herself and have fun while she is at it. Then, just as abruptly as she showed up in town, Liz leaves.
The rumor on the streets is that Liz was “passing for white” in a white-only school. Soon after, the governor closes down the local high schools in order to escape having to integrate his state and end the separation of black and white citizens. Marlee doesn’t care that Liz is black or almost-black. She just wants her friend back.
Meeting secretly, Liz and Marlee keep up their friendship and join an anti-segregationist movement, bringing danger to both their families from racist groups around town. Neither girl cares; the value of friendship outweighs the pressure of society.
about the author
Kristin Levine claims to have been a nerdy kid who just didn’t fit in with the rest of her class, so books became very important in her life. Still, she never planned to become a writer. Why would anyone want to spend all that time writing a book when there were so many great books to be read?
Kristin studied German at Swarthmore College. While working on her Film and Video MFA thesis at American University, she recalled the stories of her grandfather, Harry Otis Sims, about growing up in Moundville, Alabama.
Kristin was surprised to discover the racism her grandfather observed and the contact he had with the black families. She was also amazed at how much freedom children enjoyed back then. They go off on their own all day long without any supervision at all! Her grandfather’s memories inspired her first book The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had. Although she first planned for it to be a movie, she quickly changed it unto a novel for middle schoolers. It took about eight years to be released.
With two very small daughters at home, Kristin does most of her writing at nap time, about three hours a day. In her spare time, she enjoys reading fantasy/sci-fi novels. Though she enjoys writing historical fiction novels, she says that there might be a fantasy or sci-fi novel in her future! She and her family live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Author Turf
Author interview : Penguin - Teachers & Librarians
Also by Kristin Levine:
The Paper Cowboy. Putnam Publishing. November 2014.
The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had. Putnam. 2009.
read more!
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