The Lesson Study Guide

Sylvia, the narrator, is a street-wise, wisecracking, black girl in New York City. On a hot summer's day, she and several of her friends wait by the mailbox for their new neighbor, Miss Moore. Miss Moore is not like the rest of the people in the neighborhood. In addition to being, as Sylvia says, "the only woman on the block with no first name" and "black as hell, 'cept for her feet, which were fish-white and spooky," Miss Moore is on a mission. She wants to educate the children about the difference between their world and the world that white people live in. (read more)