Zander Scott and his friends Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi are in trouble. Even though they're students at DaVinci Academy for the Gifted and Talented in Harlem, their grades are slipping, and Mr. Culpepper, the assistant principal and chief executioner, is ready to be rid of them.
When the school starts a unit on the Civil War, and kids split up into Union and Confederate sympathizers, Zander and his crew are given a charge - to negotiate a peace between both sides before the war actually breaks out.
That's when Zander comes up with the idea to launch an alternative school newspaper called The Cruiser. What he and his friends learn is that their writing has power to keep the peace, but that words can be weapons, too. Soon everyone at DaVinci is forced to consider the true meaning of democracy and what it costs to stand up for a cause. The result is nothing they could have expected - and everything they could have hoped for.
Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers delivers the first book in a series that will have boys and girls cheering for a group of outsiders who just may be the coolest kids in town.
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"At the Da Vinci Academy for the Gifted and Talented in Harlem, the 8th grade is going to study the Civil War in a very unusual way. The whole class has been divided into Union and Confederate sides, and they are itching to go to war. Zander, Bobbi, Kambui and LaShonda are the Cruisers, who believe that grades aren't everything and life ought to be enjoyed more... which gets them into trouble with the assistant principal after they publish an article in their alternative school paper. Their consequence is to become the negotiating team that brokers the peace between the Union and the Confederacy. Articles and editorials in the official school newspaper stir things up, and racism and prejudice create bad feelings all through the school. But it's just a class project, right? Anger leads to talk of violence, and the Cruisers need to find the way out that doesn't get people beat up. Told from multiple points of view, with the newspaper articles and editorials included, this is an exceptional story that gives readers a lot to think about: the First Amendment, racism and prejudice, family issues, and standing up for your beliefs. A knockout for 7th grade and up, especially appropriate for 8th grade with their studies of the Civil War and prejudice."
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Karen (4 out of 5 stars)