Through this mentorship and other new relationships, Donte discovers more about the gifts of his identity and the pride of cultural heritage. 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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