March Key Word Challenge - The Best Bad Luck Ever

Monthly Key Word Challenge 2013

For March the Keyword options were luck, wish, gold, rainbow, green, mountain, valley, magic, farm, and treasure.

I chose The Best Bad Luck Ever by Kristin Levine published in 2009.

Dit is a twelve year old middle child in a family of ten children who feels like his parents don't even know who he is. He is growing up a white child in a tiny town near Selma, Alabama at the turn of the twentieth century. He hopes that the new post master's son, who is also reported to be twelve, will be his summer friend.

The new postmaster transferred from Boston comes to town on the train with his family. Only two problems: the family is black and the son is actually a daughter, named Emma.

Dit isn't sure about having anything to do with this girl, but his mother, who believes in being a good neighbor regardless of race, assigns him to show her around and pretty soon they become uneasy companions. But Dit still isn't sure he enjoys this brilliant, book reading, and sorta bossy female friend.

As time passes the families grow closer together. Emma doesn't attend the white school with Dit, but she helps him with his homework thus learning all of his lessons and making up for the time she is losing at her school. 

Partway through the year, the teacher at the white school decides to put on a play about the circus with her class. Dit is assigned the largest part, the ringmaster. He tries to learn the lines, but can't. Emma, who has been helping him, knows them all. Dit and Emma convince the teacher to let Emma take the ringmaster part.

Not everyone in town is as accepting of the family or of Dit's friendship with Emma. Kids at school tease him and more worrisome, the sheriff threatens them.

The tension comes to a head when the sheriff orders Emma out of the play. Racial problems erupt in the small town and eventually result in one person dying and another being on trial.

Dit and Emma struggle to find a way to resolve the problem that they feel responsible for starting.

This is a story of racial bigotry and social injustice. It is told in a way that is palatable to children. It is a story that says people matter and friendship can change circumstances. While many may argue that it isn't believable, I think that it is perfect for its intended juvenile audience.