School, African-American, Reference, Teen & Young Adult 

Shawna and Kari have nothing in common--except maybe a brother or sister theyve never known Dessina, Georgia, is culturally a world apart from Denver, Colorado, as Shawna Riley discovers practically on her first day of junior year. The new girl in school, she seems sophisticated and worldly to her classmates--but that doesn't help her make friends. In fact, enemies are easier to come by, including a red-haired girl named Kari Lang. Kari throws a brick through the Rileys' window after Shawna writes an editorial for the newspaper suggesting that a sacrosanct local tradition, the Old South Ball, include kids of all races. But soon something more than this ugly bias incident brings the two girls together, when they accidentally learn a secret from their parents' shared past. Shawna's father and Kari's mother both attended Dessina High School, and both disappeared for a time during their senior year. Could it be that Kari's mom had gotten pregnant? Provocative and suspenseful, this searing look into the personal and emotional implications of an uneasily integrated society once again demonstrates the truth of the axiom that the more things change, the more often they stay the same. - from Amzon