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Ten year old Belle Teal Harper lives with her mother and grandmother in a small rural town in the early 1960s. Though they don't have much, Belle Teal feels rich with love and loyalty to her family and best friends, Clarice and Little Boss. As a new school year begins, Belle Teal faces unexpected challenges, including her grandmothers memory fading, her mother working longer hours to support the family, the bruises inflicted upon Little Boss by his father, and the two new students at her school: a shy African-American boy caught in the center of rampant prejudice and a girl who seems determined to taunt Belle Teal.