What Lessons Did You Learn In the 7th Grade?
Home-schooled in his whiteness, thirteen-year-old TJ Crowley thinks he knows everything about black people. Not that he’s experienced anything about them firsthand. Everything he knows about them and the ugly names he flings, he learned from his half-crazed mom. She flips out whenever she sees a black person. And lately, she’s been flipping out all the time.
It’s the summer of 1968. The nation is divided and on edge over Civil Rights and the war in Vietnam. Even Walter Cronkite seems confused about what’s going on. The slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sparked violent protests coast-to-coast, including Wichita, Kansas, a segregated city where, due to racial discrimination, blacks have been forced to live in one Zip Code until now….
In this landmark work of historical YA fiction, two American families with different pigmentation of skin land side-by-side after the new Fair Housing law makes it a crime to discriminate against people of color. Nobody can prevent the Washingtons and their daughter from moving to the home of their dreams, even in an all-white neighborhood like the Crowley’s. Not legally. But the Crowleys are a vengeful brood with ties to very evil men….
For TJ Crowley, it’s been a bummer of a summer. With his father away from home and his brother gone off to fight in Vietnam, TJ and his mom are all alone in their house on the hill just one street away from the racial dividing line. When the nightly curfew kicks-in, their doors are locked tight. While his fearful mom drinks her worries away, TJ watches from the living room window as firebombs light the sky....
Despite everything, TJ is excited about going to Junior High where he plans to be a sports star. But he’s worried about entering the 7th Grade because, with forced integration, black students will be bused over the dividing line to join him. He’s also worried about his dorky best friend, Eric, who wears tie-dye and let his hair grow past his collar like a dang hippie.
At thirteen, TJ thinks he knows all there is to know, until the doorbell rings one day and The Real Education of TJ Crowley truly begins….
Assessment:
Plot: With muted riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King in the background, Overstake's story of seventh-grader TJ Crowley of Wichita shaking off his racist upbringing to begrudgingly bond with his black neighbors is both authentic and deft.
Prose: The novel's young narrators come across as real kids, squabbling one day and back to being best friends the next. They’re realistically brought to life by the author's crisp, age-appropriate prose.
Originality: Novels about kids from clashing cultures and classes thrown together are common-enough YA tropes, but Overstake's lesson about the destructiveness of stubborn bigotry manages to be both fresh and illuminating.
Character Development: Through the emotional growth of adolescent TJ and his evolving connection to his schoolmates, his racist mother and her KKK-affiliated boyfriend are central to the story. Each of the supporting characters is gifted with a distinctive personality.
Date Submitted: April 01, 2019
"I am thoroughly impressed! Couldn't put it down." - Sarah Bagby, Fiction Judge 2015 National Book Awards
"Set in an explosive moment in America's racial history, this coming-of-age history prompted me to consider my own moral courage. What choices would I have made if I were in TJ's shoes? I was on the edge of my seat, turning the pages and rooting for TJ as he navigated his young life with increasing clarity." - Debby Irving, author of Waking Up White
"Grant Overstake's The Real Education of TJ Crowley is a remarkable book that takes on the choices faced by a young white teenager caught up in the racial maelstrom of desegregation in the American hinterland. Brought to life by a series of finely drawn characters, the book offers readers, particularly teens, a chance to think about some of the most important issues facing our society today. I heartily recommend it. - Mark Potok, former Senior Fellow, Southern Poverty Law Center
"The Real Education of TJ Crowley is a nostalgic and haunting work of fiction. Anyone who remembers the late 1960s will find the story warm and familiar and deeply unsettling. Even those who did not grow up in that time will connect with the struggles of having to reconcile the values of their home with the realities of the world around them. The story is a window into a time and place that seems so distant, and yet so familiar." - Jay M. Price, Ph.D., Director of the Community History Program, Wichita State University
"This intense young adult novel presents numerous racial stereotypes and then shatters them. Psychologically-complex characters populate this coming-of-age story that is both thrilling and insightful. Highly recommended reading for enjoyment and tolerance education." - Timothy M. Tays, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, author of Wannabe Distance God and The Chameleon Complex
"Too often, the conversation about race omits the role of whiteness in the equation. The Real Education of TJ Crowley is the perfect book to spur frank discussions about whiteness with teens and young adults, offering insights into the fear and hate of white supremacy and a model of how a white person can change and challenge what they think they know about race. This book will provoke meaningful discussions in the classroom." - Jenna Chandler-Ward, Co-Founder of Teaching While White
"Raw, deliberate and honest, The Real Education of TJ Crowley is not a reassuring read. But the book is about potential, about what happens when people are seen as people, not as a "word." This is a book that demands discussion. Read it in a group and talk genuinely about history and its important connection to current society." - Marguerite Penick-Parks, Ph.D., co-editor of Everyday White People and A Guide for White Women Teaching Black Boys
