AJ and Junior: Collard Greens and Fried Okra

AJ and Junior can’t get along. These seventh graders can’t stop fighting over whose mother cooks the best collard greens and fried okra. When their principal stops suspending them and tries a new tactic, he hopes getting them to work together will solve their problems. Instead, it leads them on a journey that could destroy the school.

In this story, two boys from different cultures-AJ, a Black American, and Junior, a White American-become friends, and they set out to solve a school-wide problem even the adults couldn’t come together to resolve.

About the Author

Betty R. Anderson is a retired teacher with a degree in elementary education and a master’s in guidance and counseling. She worked thirteen years as a preschool teacher, thirteen years as a special education aide in public school, nineteen years as an elementary teacher, and eight years as a Homebound teacher for a boy with cancer.

This is Anderson’s fourth published book. Her others are Reaching for the Beauty and Facts of Life: A Book of Poetry; a book of short stories, Last Chance; and a children’s picture book, Nero the Proud Tiger. Anderson loves reading to children, singing her poems, helping people, and sharing what she cooks. With her husband William, she has four grown children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.