Armstrong & Charlie

Frank, Steven B. Armstrong & Charlie. 2017. 304p. ISBN 978-0-544-82608-3. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

The year is 1974, and Charlie is about to enter sixth grade at Wonderland Elementary, his neighborhood school. It’s a big deal, because by the end of sixth grade Charlie will be older than his older brother Andy, who died last year after an asthma attack that sent him to the hospital. This death has broken his family, and his mother rarely comes out of her shell anymore. On top of that, none of Charlie’s friends will be attending school with him. All have switched to other schools since Wonderland became a school participating in Los Angeles’ opportunity busing program. Students from a black neighborhood in central L.A. will be coming on the bus to attend Wonderland.

Armstrong is one of these kids, and he’s also not looking forward to sixth grade. Not only will he not attend his own school with his friends, but he will have to get up at 5:30 every day just so he can catch the big bus all the way up Laurel Canyon. The school won’t have any African-Americans aside from those being bused to Wonderland, so his opportunity to make friends will be small. Armstrong has five strong sisters and a stay-at-home father who lost a leg fighting for the U.S. military in Korea. His mother works hard as a nurse, and Armstrong has to be the man of the house, fixing things his father can’t.

The two of them meet on the first day of school at Wonderland when they are assigned seats next to each other, even though they are nowhere close in the alphabetical order. Armstrong is determined to exercise control and authority over the other kids through his prowess at sports and academics, but so is Charlie. What begins as an intense rivalry between the two boys slowly evolve as they realize that they share more in common than they thought …

A great friendship novel, Armstrong & Charlie allows the reader to see how two very unique individuals can look past their differences and resolve their conflicts in a humorous yet poignant tale. For a look at the issue of racism from a girl's perspective, take a look at It All Comes Down to This, which also takes place in Los Angeles, a decade earlier.