African American Melvin is about to start high school in Spokane, Washington, in the 1950s, following in the footsteps of his high-achieving brother, Chuck, and accomplished sister, Marian. It would be a daunting prospect even if he didn’t have a stutter, worsened by anxiety, which Chuck’s well-meaning list of “dos and don’ts in high school” doesn’t help. Melvin’s long-time white bully doesn’t help, either. What does help is meeting white, Jewish Lenny on his first day. Lenny, an aspiring musician, talks enough for both of them, and when he learns that Melvin plays accordion (“ Don’t ever bring your accordion to school” is on Chuck’s list), he’s eager for the two to jam. But Lenny and his widowed mom live above the Empire Club, a Black-owned nightclub that Melvin’s parents don’t frequent because they object to the owner’s whites-only policy five nights a week. Melvin’s freshman year is eye-opening in many ways. He learns from Japanese American Millie, whom Melvin has liked since grade school, about her family’s imprisonment during the war. Closer to home, he realizes that his parents and other adults in the Black community have been sheltering their kids from a lot of racism. The more he learns, the more Melvin realizes that, stutter or not, he has something to say. A vivid sense of time and place and lively characterizations ground this insightful story. (Ages 10-13)