![]() It may be small, but it’s a real gem if you dig deep enough.” “Clearly, you have not experienced the wonders Ellison has to offer. When he righted himself, her hand was slapped across her mouth in disbelief. Juniper gasped loudly and suddenly, startling Ethan into a stumble. No offense, Juniper, or Starfish, or what- ever, but this place is a killjoy.” “My dad sent me here for the summer, but I can’t wait to split. She watched him with doe-like eyes, grinning expectantly. Shay your only uncle? Are your parents on vacation? Do you like it here? Are you going to stay for the fall? It’s real beautiful in the fall.” She only paused her chatting to take sips of her drink. Thoughts of being cornered by the townspeople still lingered in his mind, but Juniper clearly didn’t notice. ![]() “You know, one time when I got a float here-”Įthan tuned her out as he cleaned up the spill, letting her rattle on uninterrupted. “No worries.” Juniper flashed another smile. “Shoot, sorry.” Ethan shook his head to clear the image and reached for the rag. He imagined them all lining up in front of the malt shop during his shift, murmuring about how he didn’t belong, forcing their way inside, and smother- ing him with their furious gazes. The cold stares of the townspeople resurfaced in his memory. His eyes had been fixed on her face, and his heart was hammering. Without realizing it, Ethan had knocked an elbow against Juniper’s root beer float, sending dark soda sloshing over the edge of the glass. And Lord knows if they tried to force that here, half this town would be lined up in front of the school- house to stop it. Anyway, I thought it was ridiculous that they were so rattled because there isn’t a single Negro within twenty miles of this town. “Some folks here think everyone should stick to their sides, you know, white folks and colored folks, so of course they were real frosted last year when that school in Topeka got all mixed up again, the way it shoulda been in the first place. “Not that I mean anything by that, you know,” Juniper went on. Y’all just don’t look the same, is all.”Įthan studied the dark skin of his hands but said nothing. Shay is your uncle? I never would’ve guessed. We could walk down the street, and I could tell you, ‘That’s Betty, that’s Stu and Laura, those are the Shaefer twins.’ Guess you’re not from here, huh?”īy the time Juniper finished her speech, Ethan had spent so much energy listening that he could hardly manage a response. I probably know everyone in this whole town. And you know, that’s pretty rare in Ellison. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. “You’re new,” she said, slightly frowning as he moved toward the soda fountain. As he put them in the register, he felt her watching him. “Fifteen cents,” Ethan said, but her coins were already sliding across the counter. ![]() It’s catchy, don’t you think? Anyway, Ethan Charlie Harper, I’ll have a root beer float, please.” “I’ve been trying to convince someone to call me Starfish. “I-my middle name is Charlie?” Ethan shook his head. “What’s your name? Don’t make me pry it out of you.” “By gosh, you’re sure quiet.” She snorted. Her accent was just a quiet hint lingering on the edges of her words, and her sky-blue eyes never once strayed from his face. “My name is Juniper Jones, but you can call me June, Junie, or Starfish. “Hi, there,” she said, extending her hand again. She swung back to face him, a wide, crooked-toothed grin splitting the galaxy of freckles on her cheeks. As Ethan is confronted for the first time by what it means to be Black in America, Juniper tries to help him see the beauty in even the ugliest reality, and that even the darkest days can give rise to an invincible summer. The town’s resident oddball and free spirit, she’s everything the townspeople aren’t―open, kind, and full of acceptance.Īrmed with two bikes and an unlimited supply of root beer floats, Ethan and Juniper set out to find their place in a town that’s bent on rejecting them. When he’s sent to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle in small-town Alabama, his Blackness is suddenly front and center, and no one is shy about making it known he’s not welcome there. ![]() For Ethan Harper, a biracial kid raised mostly by his white father, race has always been a distant conversation. Check out The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen, out June 2020, and read the exclusive excerpt below! ![]()
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