The book looks at a time when integration was being introduced into Texas. Both boys came from a controlled environment that was segregated by race, position, and religion. It was controlled by the company, and it was all that they knew. They thought that was the norm. Every boy and girl in the town had the same history and similar backgrounds. But once the school was mandated to accept integration and brought in those kids from other schools, the boys questioned their perceived norms and began to see the bigger world. In their protected world of company life, there was no crime. In the real world, there was crime and bad people. Trust was not a given.
