12

Overall, I liked my book, because it was pretty interesting. It was good to learn about how black peoples' lives were back then. But, at some parts it got kind of boring, because it would talk about the same thing throughout a few chapters. There lives were hard, and they couldn't ever do anything they wanted to because they were black. And at other times it was kind of confusing. Because they would talk about life back home, and life now, so that would always get confusing.

What really went on in my book though, was that a family decided it would be best to leave their hometown because they didn't feel safe. They had felt this way, because a black boy had been shot for doing absolutely nothing wrong, and them being black, they felt like it wasn't a safe place for them to live. They then moved to some run- down apartment, and tried to live a normal life there. But, that hadn't worked out too well, because their father did nothing but sit on the chair, and their mother did nothing but go to church. And all the children would do, is go to school and then come home, do their homework, and stay in their room. They were pretty much living a sheltered life. Evie (the main character) had loved to run, so she decided to join the track team. And Anna (Evie's older sister) was super smart, and she got accepted into a college even though she was a junior. Their mother then got a job as a teacher, but their father still stayed in the chair in the living room. Evie thought everything was starting to take a turn for the better. She started getting friends, and hanging out with people, and getting better at track. Until, her sister told her she would be leaving for college in a few months. Evie didn't like this idea, because she didn't want to be alone. Evie then decided track wasn't for her, and she quit. Then an accident with her father happened, and he ended up in the hospital. The book then ended with her and her father in the hospital, and Evie felt like she was back at her old home.

What I learned from this book, is to think before you take action. Because the cops shot the black kid because they thought he was in a gang. But really, the black kid wasn't, and he was just a normal kid. But, I actually did enjoy reading this book, and I liked learning about the blacks back then. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn a lot about other people's lives, and know how hard their lives really were. Or if they want to know anything about black history, because this was a good book to show that anything wrong happening to a black family, could effect another black family too.