The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

Title: The Other Side
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile; 9th Printing edition
Release date: January 2001
Pages: 32
ISBN-13: 978-0399231162


Summary:
Amazon:
"Woodson (If You Come Softly; I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This) lays out her resonant story like a poem, its central metaphor a fence that divides blacks from whites. Lewis's (My Rows and Piles of Coins) evocative watercolors lay bare the personalities and emotions of her two young heroines, one African-American and one white. As the girls, both instructed by their mothers not to climb over the fence, watch each other from a distance, their body language and facial expressions provide clues to their ambivalence about their mothers' directives. Intrigued by her free-spirited white neighbor, narrator Clover watches enviously from her window as "that girl" plays outdoors in the rain. And after footloose Annie introduces herself, she points out to Clover that "a fence like this was made for sitting on"; what was a barrier between the new friends' worlds becomes a peaceful perch where the two spend time together throughout the summer. By season's end, they join Clover's other pals jumping rope and, when they stop to rest, "We sat up on the fence, all of us in a long line." Lewis depicts bygone days with the girls in dresses and white sneakers and socks, and Woodson hints at a bright future with her closing lines: "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," says Annie, and Clover agrees. Pictures and words make strong partners here, convincingly communicating a timeless lesson"


http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0399231161/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288637996&sr=1-1


In the classroom:
This is a story of a friendship that overcomes the racial divide at the time.  It's a beautiful story of young girls that shows the innocence of young people and how they are judgement free and curious.  A lesson can be learned from the two girls in this story no matter the age of the reader.  The book carries such a big message in such little words.