The Long Ride

Jamila, Josie, and Francesca have been best friends forever.  They live in an upper middle class neighborhood in Queens where they never quite fit in with their brown skin and their multiracial parents.  A new school integration plan will bus them from their home in Queens to a new school in South Jamaica, a poorer mostly black neighborhood. 

While many people in their community are concerned, the girls are secretly pleased.  Finally, they will be able to blend in with the other kids.  Then Francesca makes a startling announcement.  Her parents have decided to send her to private school instead!  They won't be going to school together after all.

More bad news, Jamila and Josie don't have any classes together.  Josie seems to be fitting in ok, but Jamila isn't doing as well.  There is a boy she likes, but some of the kids and one girl, in particular, are harassing her about it.  They tell her to "stay with your own race," but Jamila isn't even sure what that means.  Her mom is white, and her dad is black.

Junior High is not getting off to a great start.

Marina Budhos's new novel is inspired by her own experiences growing up in New York City, and while there are some parts of the story I enjoyed, the book just didn't really do much for me.  Even though it's told from Jamila's perspective, it seems to mostly skim the surface of the school year.  Biracial readers need to see themselves reflected in literature, but I'm not sure how much appeal this one will have.