Night on Fire
by Ronald Kidd (Author)
Booktalk: Thirteen-year-old Billie Simms doesn’t think her hometown of Anniston, Alabama, should be segregated, but few of the town’s residents share her opinion. As equality spreads across the country and the Civil Rights Movement gathers momentum, Billie can’t help but feel stuck–and helpless–in a stubborn town too set in its ways to realize that the world is passing it by. So when Billie learns that the Freedom Riders, a group of peace activists riding interstate buses to protest segregation, will be traveling through Anniston on their way to Montgomery, she thinks that maybe change is finally coming and her quiet little town will shed itself of its antiquated views. But what starts as a series of angry grumbles soon turns to brutality as Anniston residents show just how deep their racism runs.
The Freedom Riders will resume their ride to Montgomery, and Billie is now faced with a choice: stand idly by in silence or take a stand for what she believes in. Through her own decisions and actions and a few unlikely friendships, Billie is about to come to grips with the deep-seated prejudice of those she once thought she knew, and with her own inherent racism that she didn’t even know she had.
Snippet: One day in the spring of 1961, my street was the center of the world.
People read about it in newspapers and watched it on TV. They heard about it on NBC, the BBC, and Radio Moscow. The president held meetings. The FBI investigated.
Six Traits Mini Lesson
Traits: Voice The opening line of this young adult novel makes it clear that story is being told in first person.
One day in the spring of 1961, my street was the center of the world.
The words “I,” “me,” and “my” are the clues we need to figure out that a story is being told by a first person narrator–and this story takes place on:
my street
This opening sentence stands alone as the first paragraph. The four sentences in the second paragraph fill in the details. They back up the narrator’s claims.
People read about it in newspapers and watched it on TV. They heard about it on NBC, the BBC, and Radio Moscow. The president held meetings. The FBI investigated.
The words “I” or “me” or “my” are not in the second paragraph, but that doesn’t change the voice of the story. Thirteen-year-old Billie Simms is the narrator and she is telling her story.
Story characters use the words “I,” “me,” and “my” in their dialogue, but this is NOT dialogue. There aren’t any quotation marks in this excerpt. Billie is not talking to another story character. These words are not spoken aloud.
In this first person story, readers are inside the narrator’s mind. We know what she knows. We see what she sees. Billie will be our tour guide for the duration of her story.
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