The best bad luck I ever had

Good book. Set in a small town in Alabama from 1917 to 1918. About the friendship between a 13 year-old white boy and a black girl. The girl is the daughter of the new postmaster. The characters, both young and old, learn to stand up for what is right and learn to sacrifice in order to help each

Show More

other. Good book featuring the inequalities of the time, WWI, and the flu epidemic of 1918.

Show Less

The Best Bad Luck I ever Had is the story of a young white boy, Dit, becoming best of freinds with a northern colored girl, Emma, in post-civil war Alabama. The book is filled with adventure and character development as cultures are exchanged by the two unlikely companions. In the end, Dit learns

Show More

many lessons about being right and wrong about things.

Show Less

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had is about a boy named Dit, who becomes friends with the new post master's daughter, Emma. Emma is African American and the book is set right after the Great War so race and rascism is still a big deal. The small town makes a huge thing out of Dit and Emma's friendship.

Show More

Dit becomes a better person by being friends with Emma. He realizes that calling colored people, "Niggra" is not right. This was something that he used to see as no big deal until he became friends with Emma. I really enjoyed reading this book!! I have been in an inter-racial relationsship before, so before that I never really relaized how much race effects the rest of the world. I find it extremely offensive when someone makes a rascist comment. I think it would be sort of difficult to teach this book because of the offensive language, but personally I wasn't offended by it. I took in consideration the time that the book was written it. The language is a very important detail. It tells how things were and without the language, we would really miss a great deal of the book the way that the author intended it to be. Removing the word "nigger" from this book and others like Huckleberry Finn would be like removing Mona Lisa'a smile.

Show Less

Dit comes from a family of 9 siblings. He doesn't recieve much attention from his father who can barely remember his name. All Dit wants is for his father to give him the "talk" and be proud of him. A new postman arrives and Dit is excited because the postman is supposed to have a son his age. When

Show More

the postmamn arrives the whole town is surprised to see that the family is black and that the have a little girl. Dit doesn't want to show Emma around because he wishes she was a boy. Throughout the book Dit and Emma become best friends and have many great adventures together. They come up with a plan to save Doc Haley from his execution. Dit gets questioned many times about being friends with Emma, but Dit defends her. Emma is quite smart and loves to read. She helps Dit open his eyes to what is right and wrong. Emma leaves after one year to go back to Boston and Dit is devastated. This book was an excellent book that I really enjoyed. The language used in the book is appropriate to the setting of the time displayed in the book.

Show Less

Dit is having nothing but bad luck. His best friend, Chip, has to spend the summer by his grandma's house, and Elbert has to work at his Pa's shop. He's hoping he can make friends with the new postman's son until he finds out the postman doesnt have a son but a daughter. This book is great for the

Show More

classroom. It covers topics like friendship, racism, social justice, right and wrong, along with some historical information.

Show Less

Dit is a young boy (12 years old) out of 10 children. They are living in the era of of the early 1900s, where racism and segregation was still strong and intense. Dit finds himself in an unexpected friendship with a young black girl his age. At first, he considered it back luck that the new

Show More

postman's child wasn't a boy, and was in a fact a girl. But it end up being the best friendship of his life. Hence the best bad luck i ever had.

At first, Emma and Dit seemed to have nothing in common. Emma was a smart prim and proper girl, and Dit was an adventurous country boy. But as time progressed, they both rubbed off on one another. Emma helped Dit progress in school and grow to be more mature. Dit helped Emma to be more adventurous, and be okay with getting her shoes dirty. This story also does a great job at portraying the difficulty that the blacks faced after the civil rights moment, and their battle with ongoing racism and segregation. Despite these aspects, Dit finds a best friends and defends her honor every step of the way.

Doc Haley was the town barber, who was found guilty of first degree intentional murder. Doc was actually just defending himself to the life threatening sheriff, Big Foot. But since Doc was a black man shooting a white man, he was sentence to the death penalty. Emma and Dit freed him with a master plan to make the town think that he was dead. This is a good theme to tie in with justice because it involves race as well as what is moral verses the law. Doc's situation leads the reader to question when it is fitting to break a law, and also allows the reader to realize when some laws are unfair. In addition to that, it makes us wonder what we would put on the line in order to set injustice straight (like Emma and Dit did for Doc). The rationale of this book also includes the concept of giving others a chance, because you may find a great friend in unexpected places.

Show Less

Set in a small town in Alabama in 1917. Dit and Emma, the new postmasters daughter, become friends despite the difference in race. A captivating and informative story to share with students. This book could be used in the classroom to talk about racial problems in the south in the 1900’s, racism,

Show More

and friendship.

Show Less

Dit never thought he would be friends with the new postmaster’s daughter. After all Emma was the complete opposite of him. After spending time together he realizes Emma is the best friend he ever had. She challenges him to think beyond his own small world and to open the doors to the world. In

Show More

the classroom: studying historical fiction, analyzing literary elements, depicting historical times.

Show Less

Dit's narrative of growing up in Jim Crow, turn of the century South is a commentary on racial strife and the paths we take to solve conflict. Dit and Emma are the new generation, the rebels who aren't afraid to do what they want because it only seems natural that a person should be judged by their

Show More

talents and character, not the color of their skin. This book would be a good example to introduce first person narrative and the study of a controversial topic.

Show Less

This novel tells the story of a surprise friendship between a southern boy and a northern girl. The two have their differences, but soon find more in common than either expected. Great story to use when teaching about separate but equal, differences between north and south, and where civil rights

Show More

began.

Show Less

Dit is looking forward to so much in his life as a 12 year old in 1917 Alabama. Dit is certain he'll win next years big hunt on July 4th and win the respect and admiration of his family, especially his pa. But with the arrival of the new postmaster and his family, Dit's ideas, relationships, and

Show More

plans for the future all come into question and uncertainty. Yet Dit reflects upon each change of event and in doing so undergoes the transformation to manhood right before the reader's eyes.

In the classroom: friendship, coming of age, racism, prejudice, historical fiction, race relations, fiction based on real life events, race relations in the South

Show Less

Have you ever had a string of bad luck? Dit has until he meets a friend who opens his eyes to the injustice in the world he loves. With her help he learns to change things one step at a time. A wonderful story of growing up in 1917.

The book is about a boy looking for a guy friend to hangout with and ends up with a girl. They spend a year hanging out, learning new things from each other. The story sticks out because in a racial time Dit did not care about Emma’s color, he just wanted a friend and was happy to have one. She

Show More

helped him change who he is, and he helped her change also. This is a good diversity book and standing up for what we believe in.

Show Less

In an age when it is not good for a black girl and a white boy to be seen together, Dit and Emma find themselves thrown together to stand up for the rights of one of their friends. Henry Otis, known as dit is excited when he finds out that their new postmasterhas a son. Finally he has someone that

Show More

he can pal around with all summer. To his surprise the postmaster doesn't have a son, he has a daughter named Emma. Worse yet, Dit's mother has decided that her son should be a gentleman and show Emma around town. The more their friendship grows the more they see and feel the prejudice fro others around town. Emma and Dit have a friend who is accused of a crim he didn't commit. They feel responsible and decide they have to help. The problem with this plan is that Emma's father has been told he is going to be transferred. This was another book that gave great insight into race relations in the early 1900's

Show Less

Dit, a young boy from a large Southern family, hears that a new post master will be moving to town who has a son of his own age. Dit is excited to have a new friend near by for the summer but as his "best bad luck" would have it, the post master has a daughter, an African American daughter, and her

Show More

name is Emma. Despite her being a girl, not being white, and seeming to be nearly opposite of Dit, she and Dit become the best of friends. They learn from each other and go on many adventures, one of which that frees Doc, an African American barber, from an unjust execution. This book can teach readers about a huge range of concepts including unlikely friendships, prejudice, justice, life in the south, civil rights, etc. I would like to have my class read this while we learn about civil rights. It would help make the situations more realistic to students and provide them with knowledge about the previously listed concepts. Even though this book is fiction, it will make the southern prejudice environment come to life more than a history text book ever could.

Show Less

I loved this book. The story deals with the difficult time in history for black and white relations and the author did an amazing job or presenting this topic. I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The front cover is not very appealing. However, the story was wonderful. This book was

Show More

inspirational and would recommend this to high school students.

Show Less

Twelve-year-old Dit is hoping that the new postmaster for his small Alabama town will have a boy just his age so they can play baseball all summer long. It's Dit's bad luck that the postmaster turns out to have a daughter instead. Emma and Dit become friends despite their different races (Emma is

Show More

black, Dit is white) and when racial tensions escalate in the town, they must figure out how to make things right.

The plot meanders until about halfway through when it seems like the real meat of the story begins. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it - I just wonder if most of the first half was really necessary to include. I liked the characters except for the Big Bad, who was pretty one-dimensional. With a little more focus, I think the book would have been phenomenal.

Show Less

A great novel to share with readers. This can help students understand how it is to live in the 1800's in the civil war times. This can also teach students about the segregation in the civil war times and how people were treated for their skin color.

Dit is a young white boy that comes from a big family. There is rumor going around that there was going to be a new postmaster in town and that he would have a boy Dit's age with hi. Turns out the boy Dit heard about was really a girl and her name is Emma. Emma is African American and dit is white,

Show More

in the era of this story the blacks and whites were still very much segregated. Despite race Dit and Emma become friends and are always together. Dit and Emma have many adventures together and they even set up a plan to save Doc from his execution. One day Emma receives news that she is leaving because her fathers services are no longer needed. Dit is devastated that Emma is moving back to Boston. this book teaches you that color is not important, and its what is on the inside that really counts. this book can be used in the classroom to discuss civil rights and friendship. I'm not sure how the offensive langue would hold over in a class, but this book is a really good book that I would recommend to anyone.

Show Less

Harry Otis Sims, or "Dit" for short, grew up under his mamma's rule, which was to be nice to everyone. Unfortunately, everyone was not taught likewise. When Emma Walker, the new postmaster's daughter, arrived into town, Dit was forced to open his eyes to the many injustices that occurred in his

Show More

small town. When Dit and Emma become friends, he is able to soon able to tell right from wrong. This story is his coming of age story. Throughout the book, Dit grows as a person working with Emma to save the life of the town barber, a man of color, who was only trying to protect himself.

Show Less

I love, love, love this book. It's a story about a young boy named Dit who is basically the middle child in a family of ten children. His best friend is out of town for the summer so he is hoping the new postmasters son will become his friend. Dit is very disappointed that the postmaster has a

Show More

daughter and not a son. While Dit is concerned with the child being a girl most of the town is upset that the family is African American. After being forced by his mother to spend time with the postmasters daughter Emma, Dit actually starts becoming friends with her. This a great story about an unlikely friendship.

Show Less

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had tells the tale of a boy named Harry "Dit" Sims and Emma Walker. These two are the most unlikely to becomes friends. The book takes place during 1917 in small town. The two friends get much controversy over their friendship because Dit is white and Emma is black.

Show More

Unfortunately, this is not socially acceptable in their town. The book goes through their trials as friends but also has them work together in order to save Doc, their town barber, from a terrible sentence. It is a compelling tale and I would highly suggest it for a unit study.

Show Less

Dit becomes friends with Emma even though everyone told him that a black girl and white boy shouldn't be friends. I love the fact that even though the odds were against Dit and Emma, they still became friends. This story reminded me of the racism that went on in the early 1900's.

This book tells the tale of the unlikely friendship between two young kids, Dit and Emma. This story is set in the early 1900's in a small Alabama town and Dit happens to be white while Emma is black. During this time, a friendship such as thiers was unacceptable. Dit and Emma defy all odds and

Show More

even devise a plan to help free the town's barber from an unjust execution. Although this book has repetitive use of the "N" word, I would still share it with middle school students. "The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had" is well written with Dit's voice being so strong you feel as though you're in the deep south. It will also teach students about themes such as civil rights, diversity, and standing up for what you believe in.

Show Less