From Goodreads:"When a segregated North Carolina town gets its first black teacher, two girls--one black, one white--come face-to-face with how prejudice affects their friendship.
Everything's changing for Sarah Beth Willis. After Robin's tragic accident, everyone seems different somehow. Days on the farm aren't the same, and the simple fun of riding a bike or playing outside can be scary. And there's talk in town about the new sixth-grade teacher at Shady Creek. Word is spreading quickly--Mrs. Smyre is like no other teacher anyone has ever seen around these parts. She's the first African American teacher. It's 1969, and while black folks and white folks are cordial, having a black teacher at an all-white school is a strange new happening. For Sarah Beth, there are so many unanswered questions. What is all this talk about Freedom Riders and school integration? Why can't she and Ruby become best friends? And who says school isn't for anybody who wants to learn--or teach? In a world filled with uncertainty, one very special teacher shows her young students and the adults in their lives that change invites unexpected possibilities."
Goodreads - Ruby Lee & Me
I have a serious reading problem... I can't stop!!! I finished this book in about 12 hours and it was absolutely adorable!
The book starts off with a high climactic event when Sarah's younger sister Robin gets hit by a car. Sarah then has to go stay with her grandparents as Robin is in the hospital in a coma. She struggles to tell the truth about what happened, which is that she thought the accident was her fault. We meet Ruby Lee, who is an African American girl the same age as Sarah, who comes with her grandmother to help pick berries at the farm. We quickly learn that Ruby and Sarah are friends, but have been feeling distant lately especially with the talk of segregation and integration of the schools. Robin eventually wakes up and Sarah has to learn how to help Robin deal with her injuries. Various events happen throughout the book that shift between being serious, being sentimental and kind, and being humorous. The book concludes with Sarah telling her parents that she thought it was her fault and Ruby Lee and Sarah making up and becoming friends again even though they weren't supposed to be.
One of the bigger themes in this book is segregation in 1969. While the book isn't necessarily focused and centered around segregation, it is mentioned multiple times throughout. We quickly learn that Ruby Lee is African American and Sarah isn't. This causes a strain in their friendship at one point in the book. There is also a mention of Emmett Till in the book and the librarian states that Sarah will have to come back with her parents to read about him. Sarah is a typical child who is curious as to what segregation is all about and why it is happening. I think this explains a lot of the curiosity that was taking place at that time with children. Parents were teaching their children not to be friends with blacks or not to be friends with whites. The children didn't notice skin color, but they did know friendship. I think this is also a theme that could be applied today. People are constantly judging people based on their skin color, their religion, their clothes, etc. This would be a really good point to bring up to kids to not judge anyone, because they may just be your next best friend.
Friendship is my next point in this book. Things were definitely changing in 1969 and Sarah and Ruby Lee knew it. They knew that schools were being integrated with other schools, which meant that whites and blacks would go to school together. They knew that only whites could eat at Bubba's Grill and swim in the pool. This meant that even though Ruby Lee and Sarah were friends, they couldn't eat at the same place or go swimming together. Even though everyone was telling them they couldn't be friends, they were able to overcome the hate in people's hearts. They had a little tiff in the middle of the book where Sarah called Ruby Lee a very bad name. Their friendship was off for a little while and it made Sarah really sad. They ended up making up again and they decided to try to make their friendship work, even though all the grown-ups were frowning upon it. I love the friendship message that is in this book. Both girls decided that their friendship was more important than what other people thought of them. It would be great to talk about peer pressure with this book and how some people will pressure you to be friends with someone or not to be friends with them. I would really hone in on the value of having a close friend.
I loved this book! I'm considering reading this book to my 4th graders this year as a class read aloud. I think there are a lot of good messages that are in the book that we could talk about. I give this book 5 stars!
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