The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine

I love people with good hearts, both in literature and in real life.  The protagonist of this book has a good heart, which is put to the test when the new family in town, with a girl just his age, is black.  The setting is the early 1900s and Dit (the main character) hoped for a new boy his age to play baseball with: proper Emma, with her avid love for books and distaste for dirt, is the last person he  could imagine spending time with.  But he does, and soon enough he starts liking it.  As a child, he struggles to understand why everyone can't be treated equally: today we do too.  I found myself cheering for Dit as he stuck up for Emma, more strongly over time, throughout the town.  The ending was bittersweet, but it was the right ending which I always appreciate.

I thought this book was especially neat when I realized the title is more than 3 words long and still all the words are capitalized - you don't see that everyday.  :)

A very good read, especially for teaching kids good lessons about the value of each person (or for reminding yourself of them and of the battles the nation has been through to get here).