Ola Shakes it Up Excerpt

"We really are the only black people in this neighborhood?" Aeisha always gets right to the point.

"Yes."

Khatib and Aeisha were quiet for a few seconds, and I moved down one step.

"And we're really gonna be the only black people at our schools?"

"Yes."

I moved down another step. We were all quiet now, and I knew what everybody was thinking. Living in Boston, you know that there are rules. Everybody lives in their own neighborhoods. Everybody goes to their own schools. People break those rules all the time, but if they do, they usually end up on the six o'clock news. Were we gonna get in any trouble for living here? I moved down another step until I was squeezed in tight between Dad and Mama.

"So we're the only black people in this town?" Khatib asked slowly. "How are people gonna feel about us?"

--From Ola Shakes It Up, by Joanne Hyppolite, Warren Chang (Illustrator). © February 1998 , Joanne Hyppolite, Warren Chang(Illustrator) used by permission.