In 1957--the year in which school integration stirred both Blacks and whites--in St. Louis, thirteen-year-old Betsey Brown encounters the awkwardness, responsibilities, and the elusive promise of romance of adolescence.

Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo is the story of three colored girls, three sisters and their mama from Charleston, South Carolina: Sassafrass, the eldes, a poet and a weaver liker her mother, gone north to college, living in L.A. and try...

Ntozake Shange's most beloved novel, Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, is the story of three ''colored girls,'' three sisters and their mama from Charleston, South Carolina. Sassafrass, the oldest, is a poet and a weaver like her mother, ...