Caudill 2010 - two more great reads!!

A Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack and Scarlett by Cathy Cassidy are both about young girls with important issues going on in their lives. Both stories are fast paced with a real strong sense of setting, one in 1954 St. Louis and one in modern 2009 rural Ireland.
Scarlett, 13, has been sent to live with her dad in Ireland having been kicked out of yet another school in England. Her mother is at the end of her rope and hopes that this change may make a difference in her rebellious, angry daughter. But why is Scarlett so mad? Maybe she has very good reasons. Living with her dad and his new family will force Scarlett to confront not only her own feelings but those of others including the mysterious boy on a black horse that she meets near her dad's home.
Rosemary, 11, is an only child who is about to be the first African-American student at a new school in her area. JJ, her best friend, was supposed to go with her but he is now battling Polio instead. Rosemary's story follows her first full year in Robertson Elementary. She is not only faced with the challenges of integration but she also has plenty of things going on at home: her parents are not getting along and it is only getting worse.

Any reader will have plenty of action, up and downs, twists and turns to carry them through to the end of both of these realistic stories.