The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had is a young adult historical fiction novel by Kristin Levine, published in 2009.
Synopsis
The story begins with twelve-year-old Harry Otis Sims, or "Dit," a white boy growing up in Moundville, Alabama in 1917. He and his family of nine siblings (Della, Ollie, Ulman, Elman, Raymond, Earl, Pearl, Robert, and Lois) are expecting the new postmaster to come to town from Boston with his family and board with them. It has been rumored that the postmaster is white and has a son Dit's age; thus, Dit looks forward to their arrival, hoping for a new friend to show around town that summer.
Dit is greatly disappointed to find that the new postmaster, Mr. Walker, and his family are black. In addition, his "son" turns out to be a twelve-year-old girl, Emma.
Dit's mother urges him to stay hospitable and kind to Emma and her family. Dit at first loathes having to show Emma around and play with her because of her brains and her almost annoying penchant for cleanliness. Gradually, however, he begins to warm to her, and each one begins to find that the other has redeeming qualities. Dit begins to respect Emma when he takes her to the woods to learn how to skip stones in the creek. Despite Emma's having shown a lack of interest in sports and other outdoor activities, she is stubborn and continues to practice until she can finally skip stones.
During the school year, Dit and Emma are separated and cannot attend school together due to segregation. Emma attends the Wilson school for blacks, while Dit attends the main Moundville elementary school. His old school friends Chip and Buster notice his close relationship with Emma and begin to taunt him for having a sweetheart and being a "n--r lover." At first, Dit tries to pass it off as a joke. But then one afternoon while pitching in a game of baseball, Buster distracts him with taunting whispers from behind, and Dit ends the game by punching Buster's nose.
A few weeks later, Chip and Buster lure Dit down to the old jailhouse and lock him into a cell, refusing to let him out until he confesses he is in love with Emma. Dit refuses to do so, and he manages to get out by admitting that Emma is his very best friend.
Emma and Dit's relationship continues to grow. When the town sheriff, Gabriel Pooley (or "Big Foot"), orders Emma out of the leading role in the school play, Dit jumps in and attempts to defend her. The old black town barber, "Doc" Haley, appears on the scene and likewise attempts to stop Big Foot from manhandling Emma. The argument ends in a fistfight between Big Foot and Doc Haley, in which Doc Haley suffers several injuries and Big Foot goes free. Despite the watchfulness of Dit's pa and the town doctor Dr. Griffith, Big Foot returns to Doc Haley's barbershop a few months later, trying to intimidate him. When Doc Haley takes a stance against him, Big Foot threatens him with a gun. After a frenzied fight, Doc Haley accidentally shoots Big Foot with his pistol in self-defense. Doc Haley is placed on trial in the nearby town of Selma and judged guilty of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to hanging a month later. Dit begins to blame himself for this, because he believed he provoked Big Foot that night in the barber shop by shouting at him to stop beating his own brother. (It is revealed that Doc Haley is Big Foot's half-brother.)
Dit and Emma devise a plan to save Doc Haley from hanging. Using a load of empty flour sacks obtained from a hotel kitchen in Selma, they fill up enough bags with dirt to equal Doc Haley's 160 pounds. Then, after convincing Big Foot's mother Mrs. Pooley to give them the key, they free Doc Haley. Overnight, they stage a suicidal hanging in Doc's cell, complete with rabbit's blood and a makeshift noose.
Dr. Griffith, who is in the plan with them, convinces the Mayor that Doc is dead. The sacks in his coffin are buried, and Doc Haley and his son Elbert manage to escape north by train.
Later that week, Dit's pa comes to him and commends him for his bravery. Surprised, Dit learns that Dr. Griffith told him all about what happened. At that point, Dit's pa surprises him even further by calling him a man--appropriately after Dit's thirteenth birthday.
At the end of the book, Emma comes to Dit and explains that her father passed his annual postmaster's exam and has been transferred back to Boston. Disheartened, Dit spends his last precious days with Emma and bids her farewell. At this point, he realizes how she has influenced him so much--for instance, he no longer believes in killing animals for fun, and he also admits that Emma is the only one who ever made him think. As a sign of remembrance, he decides not to enter the Fourth of July hunt, and he burns his "flip-it" weapon, hoping to send her a visible smoke signal from where she is in the train.
The book ends with the new postmaster arriving in town. He has two thirteen-year-old twins, Billy and Tommy, and their family will once again board at the Sims' place. Dit then remembers how he had first thought Emma was bad luck when she came to town, but she became the best had luck he had ever had.

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