Fire from the Rock

Sylvia Patterson is about to finish middle school. She's, of course, concerned about what she'll wear on her first day of high school, if she'll have a boyfriend, what color her toenails should be, what her favorite song is, everything typical of a 15-year-old girl. There's something else she's worried about though. If she's strong enough to be one of the first black students to attend the all-white Central High School. She doesn't want to be a hero, she just wants to be normal!

Fire from the Rock is an historical fiction novel based on the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. The reader discovers along with Sylvia the trials and hardships of black students and families living in segregated times. She doesn't think they'll ever be black singers on TV or black leaders on the covers of magazines. She doesn't think black people will ever be allowed to do anything that white people can do, but when she's chosen to be one of the first students allowed to integrate in the all white school, she doesn't know if she can do it.

The integration of Central is not the only difficult task Sylvia has to face. Her best friend is a Jewish girl and her father's store is constantly vandalized with swastikas and even gets destroyed by homemade bombs while Sylvia is in the store. She and her younger sister, Donna Jean, are attacked after leaving their local library by a group of angry white teenagers. Simply walking down the street is something she fears to do, so will she be up to the task of integration? Will she make the right decision? Only she knows the answer to that.

Sylvia is not the only one chosen for this life-changing event. Several other students have been selected to enroll at Central as well, and with the help of their mentor, Daisy Bates, nine of these specially-chosen students successfully (and I use the term loosely) intergrate the high school. The governor, Orval Faubus, tries unsuccessfully to have the students removed from the school, but they attend anyway, becoming the most famous high school students in Arkansas' history. As Sylvia's brother says on page 205, "Yeah. Like something out of a history book," which is exactly what happens.

"Using the events that surrounded the black teens, now known as the Little Rock Nine, who were chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Draper offers an emotional tale about integrity, justice, and determination," says KaaVonia Hinton, Ph.D. of KLIATT Review (July 2007 (Vol. 41, No. 4)).

Ernie J. Cox (Library Media Connection, November/December 2007) says, "Sylvia faces one of the biggest questions of her life and generation-to accept the status quo or push for new rights. Through alternating third person narrative and Sylvia's diary entries, Draper populates this important historical event with convincing characters, flowing dialogue, and keen observations."

A fantastic historical fiction to read and share with teens, then ask them the question, "What would you do if you were in Sylvia's shoes?"

Draper, Sharon. 2007. Fire from the Rock. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 9780525477204