The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

Today’s post is from Carole at Haggard Library:

 The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had  by Kristin Levine

Harry “Dit” Sims and Emma Walker become good friends when Emma moves to Dit’s town, Moundsville, Alabama, in 1917. The twelve-year-olds are an unlikely pair. Dit is one of ten children and he has always lived in Moundsville. He likes baseball, fishing, hunting, swimming and cars. Emma is an only child who loves to read and is an excellent student. Her father is the new postmaster and her mother is a nurse. They have just arrived from Boston. Dit’s family is white and Emma’s family is black.

Their friendship grows slowly over the summer as Dit shows Emma all the fun things he liked to do. He teaches her to skip stones on the water, play baseball, and to dog paddle. In the fall, she helps Dit with his school work, even though they attend different schools.

In spite of racial tensions and incidents caused by some townspeople, life is generally good for Dit and Emma, who accomplish a lot and learn a lot in the year they are neighbors and friends.

This young adult novel is a sweet story which models admirable values.