The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine is a story about two young girls growing up in the late 1950s during the time of the Little Rock Nine.  Marlee, a white girl, meets Liz on the first day of school and they become friends almost right away.  Liz is the only person who Marlee is comfortable talking to outside her family.  But, soon as tensions begin to rise, Marlee is forced to think about what race means and what her role in the time period is.

This is a very interesting, historical fiction story that goes to show that race is not what’s important; what is important is friends and family.  I really liked reading this book because this story is during the school year after the Little Rock Nine were integrated into the high school.  It’s amazing that there was still so much hostility and ignorance happening at the time.  History books discuss the Little Rock Nine and then move on to other major events of the Civil Rights Movement, but there was still a lot occurring in regards to the integration of schools.

This is a great book to share with middle school readers about finding the strength within yourself and being true to what you believe.  A great historical fiction story about an important time during American history.  There is not much on the author’s website about the book, but it was just published in January so it’s a fairly new book.  Check out Kristin Levine’s website.

Title: The Lions of Little Rock
Author: Kristin Levine
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Page Number: 304 pgs.