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Ernestine & Amanda #5

by Sandra Belton

Both Ernestine and Amanda get an unexpected shock when they enter eighth grade at Du Bois. Their best friends, Alicia and Clovis, have decided to test the "waters of integration" by attending the formerly all-white Central Elementary. Ernestine focuses on rebuilding her friendship with Clovis after his year away. Amanda’s increasing interest in boys reaches a height at a Halloween party both girls and their friends attend. Both girls experience a life-changing event that might help answer the question that has persisted from the very "Can Ernestine and Amanda ever truly become friends?"

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2013

About the author

from Contemporary Authors Online: Sandra Belton has published a number of well-received picture books for children in addition to novels for young adults that include the award-winning McKendree. She is perhaps best known for her "Ernestine and Amanda" series about two African-American girls growing up in the 1950s. In an interview with Janice DelNegro for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books online, Belton noted that the series is enriched by her own experiences as a youngster in small-town West Virginia. "Ernestine and Amanda are the keepers of my childhood memories and dreams," the author remarked. "Their voices echo the ones I heard while chasing lightning bugs and playing at twilight with the kids down the street. The homes they live in and the schools and churches they attend paint a picture of the neighborhoods that nurtured all of us. The events of their lives and the heroes they celebrate are the ones of our heritage."