During the pilot year of a Los Angeles school system integration program, Armstrong and Charlie learn to cope with everything from first crushes and playground politics to the loss of loved ones and racial prejudice in the 1970s. AGES: 10 to 12 AUTHOR: Steven Frank is the author of The Pen Commandments (Pantheon/Anchor Books), a guide to writing that Booklist called funny, inspiring, personal, moving, and often hilarious. His middle grade short fiction and plays have appeared Weekly Reader’s Writing and Read Magazines. He is also a beloved middle school teacher at Le Lycee Francais of Los Angeles, where his students often intentionally misbehave because he punishes them with fun writing assignments.