What is a great friendship book for middle school kids and up?
What Lane? by Torrey Maldonado is!
Can you do everything your friends can do? Or will you be judged by the color of your skin?
Stephen feels that he is looked at differently because of his skin color and he is having a hard time getting his best friend, Dan, to understand this.
Characters:
- Stephen – His dad is black and his mother is white.
- Dan – He is white and Stephen’s best friend.
- Wes – He is black and a very good friend to Stephen.
- Chad – He is a bully and Dan’s cousin.
Stephen and Dan spend all of their time together reading comics and watching Marvel movies. Things are good until Dan’s cousin, Chad, moves to town. He has it in for Stephen from day one, but Dan does not see it. Chad gets a group of kids to break into an old, abandoned warehouse but will Stephen be the only one who gets into trouble if they are caught?
As Stephen navigates middle school, he tries to figure out if he is in the same lane as his white friends. Through twists and turns, Dan finally begins to realize that there is racism in this world and he will not have any part of it. Dan also just begins to see how horrible his cousin is when Chad pulls the ultimate prank, but would Chad actually do something to physically hurt Stephen? Read this amazing book to find out what happens!
Why I love this book!
I love this book because it shows what true friendship is and it doesn’t matter what your skin color is! True friends stand up for each other no matter who or what gets in the way. When faced with the hard truth, I love that the character of Dan doesn’t try to deny or gloss over the extreme racism that Stephen endures, but he realizes and understands and takes up for his best friend at all costs.
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