The year is 1954, the place is Missouri, and twelve-year-old Rosemary Patterson is about to make history. She is one of the first African American students to enter the white school in her town. Headstrong, smart Rosemary welcomes the challenge, but starting this new school gets more daunting when her best friend is hospitalized for polio. Suddenly, Rosemary must face all the stares and whispers alone. But when the girl who has shown her the most cruelty becomes an unlikely confidante, Rosemary learns important truths about the power of friendship to overcome prejudice.

There is a common saying which suggests that some friendships are for a lifetime while others are for just a season. In A FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY, author Patricia McKissack shares the story of Rosemary, an African-American girl, and Grace who is white. The story is set in 1954 just after the Supreme Court has made the desegregating of schools a requirement. As the book opens, Rosemary and her best friend J.J., whom she can proudly beat in a race despite the fact he is a boy, are concluding their last day of school. It is a particularly bittersweet day because their school will be closing permanently and some of the students will be bused to a new, desegregated school. J.J. and Rosemary couldn't be happier when they discover they will be attending the new school together, and the summer lies ahead. During the summer, readers learn Rosemary's home life is less than ideal because her parent's marital issues seem to be coming to a head. In addition, Rosemary often encounters racial slurs from the Hamilton children of whom Grace is the oldest. Imagine the devastating impact of the news of J.J. being diagnosed with polio, and then adding the fact, that due to a series of events, Rosemary will have to start a new school without a single friend.

As it turns out, Grace is just as much an outcast as Rosemary at the new school. Grace's family, originally from Arkansas, is poor and different, so her classmates look down on her. As the story continues, Grace and Rosemary come to an understanding and ultimately become friends. As their friendship blossoms, they begin to change and grow and in the process, have a lasting impact on those around them.

A FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY is loosely based on the real-life experiences of author, Patricia McKissack. As I settled into the story I couldn't help but feel the deep warmth the story emanated, despite its occasional slow moments. The characters were richly conveyed and had an authenticity to which young readers will be attracted. The title is appropriate for this book because the friendship between Grace and Rosemary is not one that will endure over the years; but during its season, it changed the lives of many.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Patricia C. McKissack's A FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY tells of pre-teen Rosemary, one of the first Afro-Americans to enroll in an all-white school. She and her friend are ready - but when her friend is diagnosed with polio before the first day, Rosemary finds herself entering school alone - and facing racism throughout the year, as well as her parents' struggling marriage. A realistic story of courage and black identity emerges in a fine leisure choice middle school readers will relish.

Rosemary is not entirely sure why all the adults in her life are so excited about integration. All she knows is that she will be the only black kid in all of 6th grade at her new school. Plus, she has to sit by Grace the Tasteless, the white girl from the next street over that torments her all the time. At school, Rosemary finds out that Grace is also an outcast, because she's "poor white trash" and an uneasy friendship blooms.

McKissack is a wonderful (and prolific) writer and this book is an excellent example of her talent. Rosemary's voice rings true even today and I spent a lot of the novel rooting for Grace to stand up and do the right thing. And when she did, it was honest and true, which is hard to do and you don't see it done well all that often. The author's note at the end explains it's a highly autobiographical novel.

A nice story of friendship and change for readers 9-13.

You can't help but like Patricia McKissack. It's part of the human experience. One glance at her books or a gander at her titles and you're sold. She's a remarkable author with that rare ability to switch gears between folktales, picture books, non-fiction, and novels without so much as a hitch. But as with any established author, you can't just assume their latest book is going to be all that great. I mean, sure "A Friendship For Today" is based on a great premise. And the writing? Definitely keeps you involved and interested at all times. And I am not going to stand here and deny that McKissack seamlessly works in historical dates and facts without jarring the narrative or that the characters leap off the page with a depth characteristic of her writing.... oh fine. It's a wonderful book. Another hit out of the park, it seems, from McKissack.

It would have been bad enough for Rosemary to have to deal with leaving her favorite segregated school for the new unsegregated one she's being forced to attend. And then there's the fact that her parents are fighting all the time and her father has hooked up with some floozy from his job. But to top it all off Rosemary's best friend J.J. (her boy friend NOT boyfriend) has come down with polio right before the start of school. It's 1954 and now Rosemary Patterson is going to have to attend Robertson Elementary all by herself as the ONLY black girl in her class. The kicker? She has to sit next to nasty racist Grace Hamilton a.k.a. Grace the Tasteless. Yet as the year wears on, the two girls find that they may have more in common than they thought. It's an unlikely friendship they share, but in a year like no other, Grace and Rosemary are going to put aside their differences and prejudices, if only for a little while.

What I primarily liked about this book (aside from the father getting his just desserts at the end) was the nature of the friendship Rosemary and Grace shared. The title is immensely significant here. What they have is a "friendship for today". Not one that would last a hundred years or a million miles. It was born out of hardship and convenience and it's nice and all, but at the end of the book you can see that Rosemary doesn't set much store by it. I think this might serve as an excellent discussion point with young readers. Does Grace feel the same way about their friendship that Rosemary does? Will it last after all? Has Rosemary doomed it by calling it "for today"?

Now I'm not a huge fan of historical novels that drop famous names hither and thither without rhyme or reason. McKissack doesn't really do this though, and for that I am grateful. There's a brief discussion of Wilma Rudolph in this title, which I appreciated, but it feels natural. Rosemary, after all, is very proud of her own speed and J.J. suffers from polio so Wilma's story is absolutely necessary to the story. I enjoyed too the fact that sometimes McKissack moves the focus off of Rosemary for a little while so that the book remains realistic. For example, at one point in the narrative we hear that another black child is getting some attention, this time for performing with the local orchestra. This isn't a book so unsure of itself that it has to make its heroine the focus of every big moment and plot twist every step of the way. "A Friendship For Today" is at peace with itself.

I think the reason this book stands apart from the pack really comes down to Rosemary herself. I liked her. I don't always like heroines that speak in the first person (and in the present tense at that), but you can't help but enjoy spending some time in Rosemary's company. She's the kind of person who says things like, "I know Grace would rather not have a colored friend. And I wouldn't have picked her out of a catalog, either. But here we are." You're rooting for Rosemary from start to finish. When she walks into her new school all by herself, the only black kid there, you're just as nervous as she is. McKissack brings her troubles home.

To some extent I think that McKissack sort of overdoes the happy ending. Not only are all conflicts resolved and all players better off than when they started, but even the villains have been redeemed. The nasty girl from school that called Rosemary the "N" word suddenly does a 360 by the and gets her father to allow her fellow student into his normally all-white restaurant. The book also begins to speed up as the end of the story grows close. One minute Rosemary decides on a whim to enter a spelling bee and the next she's in the high school auditorium in the semi-finals. I also wish there had been a Historical Note in addition to the Author's Note for some of the more interesting facts in the book. At one point after the schools have desegregated, a child that isn't doing well in the new system is sent "down south where the schools are still segregated." The understanding is that segregated schools could sometimes provide better educations than their desegregated, biased equivalents. How often did this happen? Was it common? Rare? Enquiring minds want to know.

That said, it's a lovely little novel. Relatively short (under 200 pages) with a likable voice and a strong sense of decency, McKissack is comfortable in this genre. Her Rosemary is everything the author was herself taught to be by her parents; "... proud but not arrogant, firm but not stubborn, humble but not subservient." This is a book that does its maker proud. Fine stuff.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States made a historic ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education: Segregation of public schools was declared unconstitutional. And, like so many others, the life of twelve-year-old Rosemary Patterson was forever changed.

Rosemary doesn't really care for the idea of her school being closed just because of the decision. "If white people want to go to school with us so much, seems to me all they needed to do was ask. We'd make room for a few white kids at Attucks Elementary next year," she tells her mother. "Why did it take the Supreme Court to figure that out?" (p. 2). As was the case for many children of the time, Rosemary doesn't quite understand the significance of the ruling. Having grown up under the oppressive lie of "separate but equal," she just doesn't realize how wrong the system is, or how it actually affects her life. But, her mother promises, "Next year, when you are in a better school, you'll come to appreciate why this decision is so important" (p. 2).

As Rosemary goes through her classes at Robertson Elementary--the only "colored" student in the sixth grade after her best friend, J. J., is diagnosed with polio--she learns about hatred. She learns about intolerance. But she also learns about friendship. And she learns that sometimes people really can change. Things seem too much to handle in the beginning, but the local storekeeper, Mr. Bob, encourages her to keep her chin up: "You are a pioneer in the real sense of the word, Rosemary. Whenever you are the first, you are going to have it hard" (71).

This book, while fiction, is based on McKissack's own experience as a young girl in 1954 Missouri, facing her sixth-grade class as the only African-American student. Students today of every ethnic background will find the details fascinating, and will wonder, just as Rosemary did, "Why did it take the Supreme Court to figure that out?" (p. 2). And while it is a sign of success that children today cannot truly comprehend a society segregated by race, it is important that the struggles of those who led the fight--by choice or by circumstance--never be forgotten, as the fight for equality in the United States is still raging. A FRIENDSHIP FOR TODAY is an excellent example of courage and spirit for all children--and adults--to read, understand, admire, and, hopefully, carry forward.

Reviewed by: Mechele R. Dillard