Karen English

"In the summer of 1965, Sophie's family becomes the first African Americans to move into their upper middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles. When riots erupt in nearby Watts, she learns that life and her own place in it are a lot more complicated than they had seemed"--

Gavin is a new kid at Carver Elementary, where the kids do not know how good he is at skateboarding and soccer. Before he has a chance to prove his coolness, Gavin gets in trouble with his great-aunt Myrtle. As punishment he is made to take care of her Pomeranian dog, Carlotta, pretty much ensuring that he will never be seen as cool.

When Bernardo comes to live with Carlos temporarily, taking over his top bunk, his spot on the school soccer team, and even his Papi's attention, Carlos knows he is not happy, but worse, Bernardo starts messing with Carlos's pet geckos, so Carlos tries to see past his cousin's annoying ways and keep the peace for his family's sake.

As her eighth birthday approaches, Deja's biggest concern is whether her father will attend her party, until her aunt is called away on business and a classmate schedules a "just because party" on the same afternoon.

Deja, excited by the announcement that Carver School is going to elect its first ever student body president, is confident she can nab the third grade nomination with her best friend Nikki as her campaign manager, but her tendency to rush into things and boss people around alienates Nikki when she needs her the most.

After having a fight, two friends spend the day ignoring each other, until the lure of a game of jump rope helps them to forget about being mad.

Malika loves her new red shoes and wears them everywhere, but eventually she outgrows them, and her grandmother takes them to a second-hand shop--where they will become a special present for Amina (who fasted half the month of Ramadan) in Africa, who will enjoy her special red shoes every bit as much as Malika did.

Describes events of one day at a San Francisco Bay Area school as perceived by different second-graders, from the observations of first to arrive on the playground to the walk home.