Making Friends with Billy Wong
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A powerful story set in small-town Arkansas in the 1950s that illuminates the friendship surrounding the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the segregated south.Azalea is not happy about being dropped off to look after Grandmother Clark. Even if she didn't care that much about meeting the new sixth graders in her Texas hometown, those strangers seem much preferable to the ones in Paris Junction. Talk about troubled Willis DeLoach or gossipy Melinda Bowman. Who needs friends like these!And then there's Billy Wong, a Chinese-American boy who shows up to help in her grandmother's garden. Billy's great-aunt and uncle own the Lucky Foods grocery store, where days are long and some folks aren't friendly. For Azalea, whose family and experiences seem different from most everybody she knows, friendship has never been easy. Maybe this time, it will be.Inspired by the true accounts of Chinese immigrants who lived in the American South during the civil rights era, these side by side stories--one in Azalea's prose, the other in Billy's poetic narrative--create a poignant novel and reminds us that friends can come to us in the most unexpected ways.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a quiet story set in 1952, Scattergood (Glory Be) shines a light on a rarely told bit of history. Introverted Azalea Ann, 11, is reluctant to spend the summer in Arkansas helping her bossy Grandma Clark, a woman she hardly knows, and she has no idea what to think of Billy Wong, who has just moved to attend a better school and help his family run the town's small grocery. Billy is the first Chinese person Azalea has met, and she openly wonders how she could "talk to a boy who looked like he'd just moved here from China." Despite Azalea's reservations, they soon unite against the overt racism of Willis DeLoach, a local boy with a tough reputation. Grandma Clark, Billy, and even Willis end up teaching Azalea quite a bit about jumping to conclusions and the power of finding unexpected commonalities. Azalea's narration is interspersed with occasional entries from Billy's perspective, written in verse, that show his strength of character and desire to succeed, despite facing clear challenges in the segregated South. Ages 8 12.
Customer Reviews
Making Friends With Billy Wong
This book is excellent, taking place several years ago. A young boy named Billy is teased for being a different race but then Azalea comes to help her grandmother for the summer. Azalea doesn’t realize it but they become best friends.