The Long Ride

In the tumult of 1970s New York City, kids are expected to figure out issues of race that adults haven’t when seventh graders are bussed from their neighborhood in Queens to integrate a new school in South Jamaica.

Jamila, Josie, and Francesca are three mixed-race girls who have always felt like outsiders in their mostly white neighborhood in Queens, but at least they have each other. Now it’s seventh grade, and they’re part of an experiment where kids will go on a long bus ride to integrate a new school in a black neighborhood. Maybe there the three girls can finally fit in.

But Francesca’s parents put her in private school. And Jamila and Josie discover that they’re not even in the same classes.

How do they find their place in a school divided between black and white? And what about the boys wanting to be friends–and maybe more? Can kids come together when grown-ups stay apart?

In this tender story of friendship and family love, award-winning author Marina Budhos captures what it’s like to tip from twelve to thirteen and to try to carry the dreams of adults.