The third-graders are sad that this will be their last year at Pleasant Hill Elementary before their school is torn down. Poems narrated in the voices of five different students Dawn, Kayla, Jonathan, Anthony, and Carmen relate the events of their last year together with their teacher, Miss D. But the year is busy as the students prepare to put on the play Cinderella, take field trips to a local farm, and do experiments in the science lab. They are studying the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Jim Crow, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, and Eloise Greenfield and Langston Hughes.

School provides a safe haven from the difficult home lives of the children. Dawn just likes to act up and get in trouble. Her father sometimes disappears for days at a time and her mother is going to school just like her so she can get a better job someday. Kayla can t read. Her sister has a baby named Ashley who she sometimes has to babysit, and her brother Sy is in jail. Jonathan s little brother burned down their house, now they are in the shelter, and his mom is looking for an apartment. Anthony prefers school to home where he doesn t quite fit in. Carmen s grandmother died young of lung cancer. Her mom promises to quit smoking, but Carmen knows she hasn t. Miss D. s mom Grams is at the school most days. She helps Kayla learn to read and in winter she brings a pot to make soup.

When the students go to a play in a real theatre, they are kicked out for no good reason. Miss D. won t stand for that. She helps the students write letters to the theater manager, demanding to know why they weren t allowed to see the play. Is it because their skin is black?

Miss D. s classroom gives the students the security and confidence they need to succeed at their new school next year. The book features woodblock illustrations by the author.