Just picked this one up via Amazon Vine.  Can't wait to get into it.

Water Tossing Boulders: How a Family of Chinese Immigrants Led the First Fight to Desegregate Schools in the Jim Crow South.

A generation before Brown v. Board of Education struck down America s separate but equal doctrine, one Chinese family and an eccentric Mississippi lawyer fought for desegregation in one of the greatest legal battles never told.

On September 15, 1924, Martha Lum and her older sister Berda were barred from attending middle school in Rosedale, Mississippi. The girls were Chinese American and considered by the school to be colored; the school was for whites. This event would lead to the first US Supreme Court case to challenge the constitutionality of racial segregation in Southern public schools, thirty years before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. In this case confronting the separate but equal doctrine, the Lum family, along with an eccentric Mississippi lawyer, fought for the right to educate Chinese Americans in the white schools of the Jim Crow South.

Through extensive research in historical documents and family correspondence, Berard illuminates a vital, hidden chapter of America s past and uncovers the powerful journey of an oppressed people in their struggle for equality."

What's great about a story like this, is that it humanizes the people going through the trial of adapting to the US from China. The contrast of the class level and cultural backgrounds of some characters play great together. Kwok does such a great job describing everything around Kimberly Chang, the protagonist, that the reader figures out the intentions of the adults well before Kimberly does, if she ever does. I thought chopping up the English words that were spoken to her and she found confusing was a brilliant way to relay her developing English vocabulary at the same time as relay to the reader what was going on at times in the beginning. Direct translations of slang and insults with the adapted meaning behind them was a great addition. English is my mother's second language and I always thought the differences in the way it was done to be funny, so it was great to find that included. 

There's so much to love here. Many parts of the book are stereotypical in that we expect to hear about when reading immigration stories. Every race and ethnicity that has migrated to the US has those things that are typical to their story. This is typical of the things we hear about Chinese immigrants, when we hear anything at all. 

Grayce Wey is an amazing narrator. Her pronunciations were great. I loved the way the accent started out very thick and softened throughout the story, and that it never completely went away. I also adored the way her reading of the chopped up English played into the story, it was well done. 

I found the end to be fitting, but bittersweet. 

An overall great book, especially if you're doing 500 Great Books by Women's 2016 Year of Reading Women of Color reading challenge!