A powerful story set in small-town Arkansas in the 1950s that illuminates the friendship surrounding the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the segregated south. Azalea is not happy about being dropped off to look after Grandmother Clark. Even if she didn't care that much about meeting the new sixth graders in her Texas hometown, those strangers seem much preferable to the ones in Paris Junction. Talk about troubled Willis DeLoach or gossipy Melinda Bowman. Who needs friends like these!
And then there's Billy Wong, a Chinese-American boy who shows up to help in her grandmother's garden. Billy's great-aunt and uncle own the Lucky Foods grocery store, where days are long and some folks aren't friendly. For Azalea, whose family and experiences seem different from most everybody she knows, friendship has never been easy. Maybe this time, it will be.
Inspired by the true accounts of Chinese immigrants who lived in the American South during the civil rights era, these side by side stories-one in Azalea's prose, the other in Billy's poetic narrative-create a poignant novel and reminds us that friends can come to us in the most unexpected ways. Told in the alternating voices of Azalea in prose, and Billy in verse, this powerful and unique novel plunges readers into two very different American cultures — southern whites and their Chinese neighbors. From Making Friends With Billy Wong: (Azalea) All it took to send my summer on the road to ruin was a fancy note and a three-cent stamp. The minute that envelope showed up, Mama was packing my suitcase. (Billy) Inside Lucky Foods Since I was old enough to stand on a wooden fruit crate and roll nickels.
First, at my parents' grocery. Now, at Lucky Foods.
After school. Most every day. Weekends, too.
I've worked. I push open the door. Stop. Catch my breath. Great Aunt waits by the cash register. "Put on your apron. Evening shoppers coming. "She disappears into her kitchen behind the store. Smells of pork and onions drift in, mixing with peppermints on the counter.
