Pre-Owned The Long Ride (Paperback) 0553534254 9780553534252

In the tumult of 1970s New York City kids are expected to figure out issues of race that adults haven t when seventh graders are bused from their neighborhood in Queens to integrate a new school in South Jamaica. Jamila Josie and Francesca are three mixed-race girls who have always felt like outsiders in their mostly white neighborhood in Queens but at least they have each other. Now it s seventh grade and they re part of an experiment where kids will go on a long bus ride to integrate a new school in a black neighborhood. Maybe there the three girls can finally fit in. But Francesca s parents put her in private school. And Jamila and Josie discover that they re not even in the same classes. How do they find their place in a school divided between black and white? And what about the boys wanting to be friends--and maybe more? Can kids come together when grown-ups stay apart? In this tender story of friendship and family love award-winning author Marina Budhos captures what it s like to tip from twelve to thirteen and to try to carry the dreams of adults.