Pros: Both funny and poignant, Armstrong & Charlie grabs the reader immediately with two distinct voices switching off every page or two. By the end of sixth grade, they are almost like brothers, unsure if they will see each other again as separate junior high schools loom in their futures. Charlie, still hurting from the death of his older brother the previous year, eventually shares his pain with Armstrong, who in turn gives Charlie a taste of what his life in the projects is like. Gradually, the two boys go from sworn enemies to a tentative truce to a close friendship.

Told in the alternating voices of the two boys, the story shows the two-steps-forward-one-step-backwards progress of school segregation. Some 15 miles away, Armstrong’s parents decide to take advantage of the opportunity, and send their reluctant son to sixth grade at Wonderland. But Charlie’s parents, who have experienced some prejudice against their Jewish faith, choose to keep Charlie at Wonderland. Different, yet the same.Summary: When “Opportunity Busing” comes to Charlie’s neighborhood school in 1970’s southern California, many of his friends’ parents opt for other schools.

Set in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Armstrong and Charlie is the hilarious, heartwarming tale of two boys from opposite worlds. When they are assigned seats next to each other, what starts as a rivalry becomes a close friendship. He'll have to wake up at five thirty to ride a bus to an all-white school in the Hollywood Hills. Armstrong isn't looking forward to sixth grade either.

If he starts sixth grade, chances are he'll finish it, and he'll be older than his older brother ever was. During the pilot year of a Los Angeles school system integration program, Armstrong and Charlie learn to cope with everything from first crushes and playground politics to the loss of loved ones and racial prejudice in the 1970s.Ĭharlie isn't looking forward to sixth grade.

Armstrong & Charlie by Steven B. Frank