Kizzy Ann Stamps, Jeri Watts. The year is 1963 and Kizzy, a young black girl, is about to attend the white school because of desegregation. Her teacher encourages all her students to write their new teacher, Miss Anderson, to introduce themselves. Miss Anderson writes back and she and Kizzy continue to write one another throughout the year. Through Kizzy's journal entries, we learn about the trials of being a little black girl at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She also has a drastic scar along the length of her face, given to her by Frank Charles, the neighbor boy wielding a scythe, that causes curiosity and mean remarks. Her one comfort is Shag, a border collie, born to run sheep. Because of Mr. McKenna, an immigrant knowing about border collies, he shows Kizzy how to train him and he is a shoe in for local herding competition, as well as the spelling bee, but being black prevents her from entering either one. She gets some support; however, from an unlikely person and proves that some were able to see beyond skin color.