Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year

As social change sweeps across 1950s America, two boys-one white, one Black-discover the power of friendship and the importance of staying true to yourself

It's the summer of 1959 at the foot of Bakers Mountain in western North Carolina when 13-year-old Jackie Honeycutt first bumps into Thomas Freeman fishing on the riverbank. They hit it off, and Jackie hopes the two of them can be friends. But Jackie is white, and Thomas is Black-and Jackie quickly learns their growing friendship won't be easy.

Affected by the growing civil rights movement, Jackie is intent on being Thomas's friend and, as a result, experiences racism and prejudice first-hand through bullying at school, family turmoil, and pressure from his community. Can Jackie free both his conscience and his voice-and ultimately do what's right?

A touching historical fiction tale about friendship and racial inequality, Equal is the fifth and final title in the popular Bakers Mountain Stories series.