and her sister Cole are very close yet differ in appearance. Her sister is described as "cinnamon-skinned, curly-haired", traits associated with African Americans of mixed race. Birdie describes herself as a brown haired, light-skinned girl and her interactions with others indicate she is lighter-skinned than her sister and can pass as white. "...[T]he woman behind the desk took one look at Cole and me and assigned us to different districts. I would be bused to the predominantly African American school in Dorchester; Cole to South Boston, the Irish section, 'in the interest of dahversetty,' the woman explained..." The book is written in three parts: Part 1 takes place in 1975 Boston and Roxbury, Massachusetts, when Birdie is eight years old; Part 2 takes place in a small town in New Hampshire six years later when Birdie is 14 years old; Part 3 takes place when Birdie is 14 ½ years old and runs away from her mother to try to find her father and sister. Part 1: "Negritude for beginners" It is 1975 and eight-year-old Birdie Lee lives with her family in Roxbury, Massachusetts. She and her older sister, Cole, converse in their room using their made-up language, Elemeno. The pair can hear their Caucasian mother, Sandy and African American father Deck, arguing downstairs. The confrontation results in Deck moving out for good. Sandy tells the girls that they will attend a public school, instead of Nkrumah, the private Black Power School in Boston. They are assigned to two different school districts, "'in the interest of dahversetty'". Birdie is sent to a predominantly black school in Dorchester, while Cole is sent to a south Boston Irish school. Sandy dismisses this decision, and the receptionist buses them both to a school in South Boston. An assault on an African American man by Irish men in the South school district makes the news and the first day of classes are cancelled. The girls are sent to the African American power school, after all. At Nkrumah, Birdie is questioned by the other students wanting to know what race she is; they ask if she's Puerto Rican and demand: "What you doin' in this school? You white?" With Cole's sisterly protection, in addition to changing her hair, dress and speech patterns to fit in with the other African American students, Birdie successfully passes as an African American. Birdie begins to find kinship with her