New Boy

Osei, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat, joins the sixth grade toward the end of the school year in Washington, DC, becoming the only black child at an upscale private school in the 1970s. Though his presence is shocking and uncomfortable for many students and teachers in this era of a more casual racism, popular girl Dee befriends him, and an adolescent romance quickly blooms. Their relationship creates shock waves that reverberate among the insular group of youth who have known one another since kindergarten, resulting in jealousies and misunderstandings orchestrated primarily by Ian, the Machiavellian schoolyard bully. A retelling of Othello, this latest entry in the Hogarth "Shakespeare" series is a departure for Chevalier, who's better known for historical fiction (Girl with a Pearl Earring) set in earlier centuries rather than decades. The action plays out over the course of only two days in this slim volume, and the reader advances with a sense of foreboding, knowing how the play ends.