Most of the students don’t look like him. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in a sea of whiteness.
She uses Donte Ellison’s experiences as an example to show young readers the power in fighting for what you believe and surrounding yourself with people who will fight with you.A powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presensts as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are forced to naviagte the world, all while training for a fencing competition.ĭonte wishes he were invisible. Such topics are often considered inappropriate for young children, yet Rhodes held nothing back. In addition to confronting issues like racial injustice, colorism, economic privilege, and prejudice, Rhodes mentions the fatal shooting of twelve years old Tamir Rice to also highlight police brutality against the black community, along with systemic racism and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Though Donte is angry at the fact that no one would believe he’s innocent, instead of sulking about his situation, he seeks the help of a former fencing olympian, so as to confront his bully and the blatant racism that exists in his nearly all-white prep middle school in their own turf: fencing.Īlthough this book was written for a much younger audience, I am completely shocked at Rhodes’ ability to confront a very painful topic with such simplicity and grace. He is later arrested and suspended for his conduct. 12-years-old Donte Ellison is falsely accused by the captain of the fencing team, “King” Alan, of disrupting class by throwing a pencil at a fellow student. In this book, Rhodes tackles the all too real pain of racial injustice, colorism, and prejudice faced by people of color in schooling systems, along with the common act of whitewashing in history.
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