ON BEALE STREET

Fifteen-year-old Johnny Ross straddles the racial divide of 1954 Memphis, living in an affluent white neighborhood, sneaking into all-black blues clubs on Beale Street and getting a job at Sun Records, where he befriends a young white singer named Elvis Presley. Kidd portrays the music scene with the enthusiasm of a blues fan while mining the layers of racism in a town where “there was black. There was white. But there was never gray.” Johnny has an affinity for the gray, and Sun Records begins to feel like home, “a place where people didn’t care if you were black or white.” Johnny’s journey of self-discovery is rooted in a vividly described setting and well-drawn characters, and if the “we’re all black, we’re all white” message gets a bit heavy-handed, it’s in the context of a strong story overall. Racist language and references to violence mark this one for older readers. (author’s note) (Fiction. YA)