Abe and Willie are next door neighbors. During the day they don’t play together, because Abe is Jewish and Willie is black. But at night, when nobody is watching, they’re best friends. All summer long, Abe and Willie open their windows across the alley to play catch. Abe lends Willie his violin and Willie show Abe how to throw a real big-league slider. Then one night, Abe’s grandfather catches them–will Abe and Willie have the courage to cross the alley and bring their friendship out in the open? Set against a backdrop of old-time Brooklyn, Michelson’s stirring prose captures both the fun and danger of having a secret best friend.
Richard Michelson’s twenty three books for children, teens and adults have been listed among the Ten Best of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; and among the Best Dozen of the decade by Amazon.com. He received the 2018 National Jewish Book Award and the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for his latest book, The Language of Angels. His previous book Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy received a Junior Library Guild Gold medal and was chosen to represent the state of Massachusetts at the 2018 National Book Festival. Michelson is a 2016 recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship and served two terms as Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA. He is the owner of R. Michelson Galleries www.RMichelson.com which represents many prominent children’s book illustrators.
E.B. Lewis is the award-winning illustrator of such books as Virgie Goes to School with Us Boys by Elizabeth Fitzgerald, which was a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, and This Little Light of Mine. He received the Caldecott Honor for Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman by Nikki Grimes. E.B. Lewis lives in New Jersey, and you can visit him online at EBLewis.com.
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