The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine

What happened after the Little Rock Nine integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957? This historical fiction novel attempts to create the atmosphere of the town in 1958.

Even though it was the law to allow blacks to attend what were segregated white schools, in the fall of 1958, many schools refused to open rather than allow the races to mix.

Judy, Marlee's older sister is sent to live with her grandmother in Pine Bluff so she can attend high school. Marlee is in junior high and befriends a delightful new girl named Liz. Marlee has trouble speaking up for herself. Liz helps her learn coping techniques so she can vocalize her fears. When it becomes known that Liz is really a very light skinned black girl passing as white, she is forced to leave the school.

Marlee knows that friendship is more than skin deep. She misses her friend terribly and finds ways to secretly meet her and talk to her on the telephone against both their parents' wishes. There are dangerous people in town who will make trouble for "nigger lovers" or for those black people "who don't know their place and try to pass in the white world."

There is much tension in town. There are people who support the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) and there are those equally opposed to that called Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP) campaign. When a case of dynamite ends up in the wrong hands, there is the real possibility of danger.

Read The Lions of Little Rock to begin to understand the complex, deep rooted hatred of the time period, and the courage of those who stood for what was right.