Crack a book, break a barrier - February 18, 2007
By Lara Farrar, Globe Correspondent
Ashley Jones and Mayra Bertrand are best friends. They have been for about five years, since second grade when Jones's cousin introduced them on the playground of the Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington. Now the two girls are in sixth grade, and their friendship is as strong as ever. They both love sharing bits of gossip, talking about boys, and hanging out.

Yet, there is one problem. Jones, 11, lives in Mattapan, and Bertrand, 13, lives in Lexington, which makes hanging out outside of school difficult.

"It is really hard because she lives all the way in Boston," said Bertrand.

Jones is a student in the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity program, which buses minority students from Boston to suburban schools. She has been a Metco student since first grade. In all their years of friendship, neither girl has spent the night at the other's house. That is, until now.

Two years ago, teachers Amy Timmins and Alice Madio from Diamond Middle School in Lexington created the "Boston-Lexington Book Club." Students and parents from Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roxbury, and Lexington meet from 7 to 8 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at the Twelfth Baptist Church on Warren Street in Roxbury. The club is open to students in grades 6 through 8 and is sponsored by the Lexington Education Foundation.

"It is really easy for us to be in our bubble in the suburbs and not appreciate that there are differences and challenges," said Madio, who teaches seventh-grade reading. "I think it has meant a lot to us in terms of being part of the Boston community."

Jones and Bertrand started participating in the club last fall.

Sometimes Bertrand's mother, Althea , cannot make the club because it conflicts with her son's wrestling match, so Bertrand stays the night with Jones.

Sleeping over "was really fun because I always wondered where she lived and what it was like for her to wake up so early" for school, said Bertrand. "She wakes up at like 4 a.m."

The book club does more than facilitate sleepovers. It also creates new dialogue between the middle schoolers and their parents.

This month's discussion was about the book "Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe," by Bette Green, about an African-American girl from Arkansas who always lets the boy she is in love with win, so he'll like her. The discussion about the book wove through race, political, and gender issues.

Andrea Walker, a parent from Roxbury, asked the group if "girls still dumb themselves down for boys?" Michon Joseph, 13, of Hyde Park, said it's quite the opposite. "The girls nowadays, we try to make sure that the boys are behind us," she said. "Trust me, we kind of rub it in their face like we are smarter than you because girls rule."

Keith Young, 13, a Diamond Middle School seventh-grader from Hyde Park, responded, "What if the boy doesn't, like, feel
behind?"

Parents and students also talked about the possibility of a black or female president, and the role of women in the household.

Aara Holtzclaw , 12, a seventh-grader at Diamond Middle School who lives in Roxbury, said the book club helps educate students from Lexington who have the wrong idea about her neighborhood. "It really helps because a lot of people think it is not as nice as the suburbs, but it is nice enough for me," she said. "It proves their stereotypes are wrong."

Lexington students "think it is sometimes dangerous from the things that they hear," said Young. "They ask, 'Is it safe to come into Boston?' or, 'Is it bad?' "

The club reads a range of books including works by Langston Hughes and Mildred Taylor.

"It is a nice thing to discuss with each other," said Linda Bara, who comes to the club with her daughter, Savannah, from Lexington. "Other than clothes and the other things you talk to your daughter about."

Jones's mother, Linda Thernize , said the club gives her an opportunity to spend time with her daughter she would not otherwise have.

"It is sometimes challenging for me coming off of work," said Thernize, who is a single parent. "No matter how tired I am, I put that aside so my daughter can say at least my mom was here with me to do this."

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.