Sixth-grader Lu Olivera narrates her emotionally and politically charged school year in Red Grove, Alabama in this thoughtful and well-written middle grade novel.

1970 is the year that Lu, who's family immigrated to Red Grove from Argentina, discovers running, falls for a boy, makes the "wrong" friends, and learns about injustice and racial inequality. It sounds heavy, but the story flows naturally and is easy to fall into. As an adult reader I was struck by parallels between the politics of the time and things that are happening today. I highly recommend this one as a readable, enjoyable book, but it would also be a wonderful title for classroom discussion.

Lu is growing up in a small town in Alabama in the 1970s. Her parents immigrated from Argentina and although there is another Cuban family close by, there really aren't any other Hispanics in her community. Which puts her in a funny situation, is she white like her friends or more colored like the new kids that are integrating the local schools? Lu really wants to be a runner and she's good at it but her more traditional parents don't think it's a good idea. And then there's the election going on-will Governor Wallace be elected? It's an interesting story and I think the kids will like it.

My Year in the Middle
by Lila Quintero Weaver
Candlewick Press

Candlewick
Children's Fiction , Middle Grade
Pub Date 10 Jul 2018


I am reviewing a copy of My Year in the Middle through Candlewick Press and Netgakley:
.
Set in an Alabama classroom in 1970 The Year in the Middle tells the story of a young girl named Lu Olivera while black kids sit on one side of the classroom and white on the other Lu Olivera is one of the few kids who sit in the middle.

Lu Olivera is a sixth grader who wants to get along with everyone in her class, but Lu’s friends have been changing lately acting boy crazy and making fun of Lu’s talent for running track.

Lu hopes to find a new friend in fellow track runner Belinda Gresham but in 1970 Red-Grove Alabama, blacks and whites just don't become friends.

A segregationist ex governor George Wallace heats up his campaign against the current governor Albert Brewer! Growing tensions in both the state and classroom force Lu to no longer stay neural against the racial divide. Will Lu find the strength to stand up for what's right and will the others in her class follow suit?

I give The Year in the Middle five out of five stars!

Happy Reading...

Middle grades novel on race relations in the 1970s deep south. Well-written and thought provoking novel.

Excellent middle grade level story about racial tensions in Red Hook, Alabama, on the eve of the gubernatorial election of 1970 (hint: George Wallace wins). Lu Olivera is a fabulous character — she is the quiet and unassuming daughter of Argentinian immigrants who finds her own voice and moral compass as racial tensions manifest in her town and her school.
Lu is one of the few kids who “sits in the middle” in the classroom, with the black kids on one side and the white kids on the other. She finds a talent and passion for running and a new best friend — who happens to be black — to go along with it. As events transpire, and things occur which she knows is wrong, she wants to speak up, but running through her head is always her parent’s refrain: “We’re foreigners. We’re not supposed to get involved.” It’s both a history lesson and a lesson on the perils of conformity, being delivered to just the right age audience.
The characters are real and absorbing, and the plot keeps you on your toes and is appropriate for the middle school audience. The characters are portrayed skillfully as kids who would rather focus on family and friends (and in Lu’s case - boys) than politics but who are reluctantly drawn into these issues nonetheless.
Great book!

My Year In The Middle is a terrific Middle Grade book and one that this reader believes should be in the shelves of every classroom.
Lu Olivera is a sixth grade girl who discovers a passion and a talent for running and a new friend who shares her interest. But her new running friend, Belinda Gresham, is black and this story is set 1970 Alabama during a time of racial tension.
Lu opens the book by explaining that, "Miss Garrett’s classroom is like every other at our school. White kids sit on one side and black kids on the other. I'm one of the few middle-rowers who split the difference."
Lu may be white, but she is also the child of immigrants, which in her town of Red Grove, Alabama means she’s different than most. It puts her not only in the middle row of her classroom but in the middle of a battle that’s brewing in the town. Lu has been taught not to rock the boat but things in Red Grove are escalating to the point where Lu has to choose a side.
It is exactly this perspective of an outsider which makes this book ideal for schools and young readers.
It’s a bit of a slow start but stick with it. You won’t be disappointed.

Lu is a student at a recently integrated middle school in Alabama in 1969-70. She and her family are Argentinian immigrants, and at school, Lu sits in the middle row of the classroom--between the Black kids and the white kids. Tensions are pretty high at school: Now that the school has been desegregated, lots of white kids are leaving to enroll in a private school, and arguments break out now and then between black and white kids. The upcoming gubernatorial election further polarizes Lu’s classmates. Former governor George Wallace, who is seeking reelection, vows to return the South to the old ways before integration; whereas his opponent, current governor Albert Brewer, is more liberal. Lu’s older sister Martina volunteers for the Brewer campaign, and Lu’s crush Sam is a staunch supporter of Brewer as well. Lu is navigating some friend drama: Her best friend has a new, rather cruel best friend, and when Lu befriends African American Belinda, her former white friends become even nastier. But Belinda is fun and kind, and she enjoys running as much as Lu does--a talent Lu has recently discovered. Belinda’s friendship inspires Lu to begin to stand up for herself and for what’s right in her friendships and out in the world.

This is a unique and refreshing perspective in middle grade Civil Rights-era novels. As an #OwnVoices book, it offers a new and authentic glimpse into that time period. Lu is likable and believable; she's sometimes afraid to stand up for what's right, but she's learning and gaining confidence. Unfortunately, she uses an incredible number of expressions while narrating, which distracted me quite a bit from the story, and didn't feel authentically middle-school to me (although it may just be the different time period coming through).