![]() He leaves the upper-class Boston suburb where he resides and heads to the inner-city Boys and Girl Club, where he finds a former star fencer who now serves his home community. Donte responds by devising a plan to make the school see him, in all his dignity, respect, and potential. ![]() Donte’s mother (she is black and their father white) challenges the school on its racism, yet within the social world of the schoolyard, the injustice is further compounded by bullies’ smirks. A tragic, unjust incident occurs early on when the headmaster sends for police officers to handcuff, arrest, and jail Donte after an incidental brush with a teacher. ![]() Maybe if he were invisible, he wouldn’t constantly be in trouble for doing nothing-unlike his older and much-lighter-skinned brother, Trey, who walks the hallways with cool. ![]() This outing starts with Donte Ellison wishing for invisibility, as compared to being a hypervisible “nighttime dark” student at upper-crust, overwhelmingly white Middlefield Prep. Following on Ghost Boys (2018), Rhodes delivers another middle-grade novel that takes on complex, historical topics while emphasizing young people’s agency and healing. ![]()
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