Other Side Of The Tracks (YA fiction)

.      Charity Alyse's The Other Side Of The Tracks is a tale of two towns physically separated by train tracks. After the Civil War freed Blacks had sought refuge in Bayside. Rather than accommodate the newcomers the white Bayside residents gave them their own town, Hamilton, and help developing it. 

     "Even after the train tracks stopped being ridden upon and the station was nothing but an abandoned wooden square, Bayside never offered to join the two towns together. A resident could be born in these towns, attend school, get married, raise children, and die in their respective graveyards, separated from one another and the outside world. In fact, almost everyone did, and for a long time nothing changed. 

     Until..."

     Until three teens started shaking things up.

     Capri and Justin are orphaned Black siblings being raised by their grandparents since the death of their mother, a talented professional dancer. Their grandparents plan for them to take the usual route of spending their lives in Hamilton...

     ...But they have other plans. Capri adores her mother and is determined to follow in her footsteps. She yearns to audition for a dance camp with the potential to jump start her career. No way would the grandparents go for that! Justin wants to get the hell out too. An extremely talented basketball player, he sees a full ride college scholarship as his ticket out. But he's gotten his girlfriend pregnant in a town that will expect him to forgo his dreams and man up. 

    Zach and his father have just moved into his great-grandmother's mansion where his dad grew up. He is not a happy camper. He despises his rich, snobby neighbors and their obnoxious, privileged children. His stodgy lawyer father feels that he has only one year to get him past his musician ambitions and taking pride in his Whitman ancestry. 

     You see there's been enmity and violence between the two towns involving the three teens' ancestors. For awhile it's been simmering in the background...

     ...Until an incident makes it flare up, endangering both towns.

     Narrated from the alternating points of view of the three protagonists, Other Side Of The Tracks draws you into their world and lets you see it through their eyes. It's an engaging, thought provoking roller coaster ride, one very worth taking. 

On a purrrsonal note, Eugene and I just had a wonderful weekend. We spent it at camp. Of course we stopped at every yard sale we saw and had some great finds. My favorite part was when we saw a group of beautiful deer 🦌 including fawns grazing on the grass in Machias. 

A great big shout out goes out to the deer and Eugene. 

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone