Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli - Fourteen-year-old newly immigrated Calogero Scalise and his Sicilian uncles and cousin live in Tallulah, Louisiana in 1898, when racist laws ruled. The story is loosely based on the Tallulah lynchings of 1899. It's a good piece of historical fiction that explores racial conflicts and relationships in a realistic way. It took a bit to get into unlike the author's Hush, an Irish Princess' Tale which totally hooked me from the start. Incidents leading to the lynchings; Mistaken motives; Hunting the animals in the swamp; Calo's love for Patricia and her responses made for an eventful interesting read.