Black Boy White School

November 28, 2011
Walker’s powerful debut never shies from violence (often stark), as it follows 14-year-old Anthony, aka “Ant,” from his poor East Cleveland neighborhood to preppy Belton Academy in Maine, exploring issues of racial identity and class. Although the standard “overcoming adversity” tropes appear, they pale compared to Walker’s forceful narrative voice and fast-paced storytelling. After his friend Mookie is killed, Ant resolves to take advantage of the scholarship offer he’s received and go to Belton. Ant soon discovers plenty of bigotry (including the occasional well-meaning assumption that he’ll be on the basketball team), but he also learns to balance his identity within the school with his roots in Cleveland. Had Walker left the novel there, it would still be a solid story, but his exploration of the effect of race and class on identity carries the story far. If there are a few moments of rote cliché (a teacher actually tells Ant, “You helped me grow up, too”), the writing and characters easily compensate for the occasional stumble. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jodie Rhodes Literary Agency.

November 15, 2011
Life at a Maine boarding school is vastly different from an inner-city neighborhood in East Cleveland, Ohio, and requires a corresponding set of survival skills for a young black male. Anthony "Ant" Jones is anxiously awaiting word whether he will leave his East Cleveland neighborhood to begin his freshman year at a boarding school in Maine. His mother has decided that he must go if he is to have a better future, and when his best friend is killed, Anthony looks forward to a different experience. Life at Belton Academy reinforces his concerns about a nearly all-white environment, though, and challenges many of the ideas he carried. Some of the racism is almost casual, and school administrators seem clueless. However, his roommate, Brody, is not what he expected, and some black students have adopted coping strategies that puzzle Anthony. A complicating factor is the presence of Somali refugees in the small town surrounding the school, triggering racist responses directed at all people of color. Anthony is a complex, likable character who convincingly grows in the course of the novel. He gradually understands what will be required if he is to succeed in his new school. "So I put on a mask that was so perfectly polished that it only reflected who you all wanted to see." His sense of belonging to neither his old community nor the world represented by Belton Academy is palpable, as is his frustration at those who refuse his attempts to define himself. Strong, realistic language and well-drawn secondary characters contribute to this authentic narrative. (Fiction. 14 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Anthony "Ant" Jones, 14, has never known any life outside of his crime-ridden East Cleveland neighborhood. That is, until the day he learns that he's been accepted to the prestigious Belton Academy in Maine. There he finds himself in the midst of unfamiliar territory-a heavily upper-class, Caucasian population. As he struggles to fit in, he begins to feel as if he's losing his identity. The students call him Tony instead of Ant and expect him to play on the basketball team. At home, the neighborhood violence escalates and his best friend is killed. Ant is at first an angry character, and rightly so. His problem lies in being true to who he thinks he is and who he thinks he should be. To make matters worse, there are some deep-seated prejudices in the Belton community. Cliched moments mingle with raw realism. Where some scenes can feel forced, others feel heartfelt and genuine. The fast pace and style of writing will appeal to a variety of readers, even reluctant ones, making this a debut novel worth noticing.-Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Stark County District Library, Canton, OH

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2012
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Like the protagonist of his hard-hitting debut novel, Walker grew up on the streets of East Cleveland until he was sent to a boarding school in the Northeast. Anthony Ant Jones, an inky black knot of a fourteen-year-old, has no interest in leaving East Cleveland (where drugs and violence reign) to attend predominantly white Belton Academy in Maine. Then Ant witnesses the drive-by shooting death of a friend, and suddenly Maine seems like the safer option. But life is far from perfect in the Belton bubble: the white students expect him to play basketball (he doesn't) and assume he's from Brooklyn (he's not). Over the course of his year at the academy, Ant's intense exploration of his own identity leads to more questions than answersfor example, is he Ant, as he's called in Cleveland, or Tony, a nickname given by white students? How can he live in two worlds and yet feel like he belongs in neither? Walker grapples with these questions of belonging and examines the subject of race relations with unflinching honesty. Both the Cleveland and Maine characters are authentically drawn, and, like Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), this powerful novel is certain to spark thoughtful discussion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)