Burlington Public Library

Jordan's father was sent to jail for a reason Jordan doesn't know. His mom won't talk about it and spends most of her time crying. Jordan tags school property, refuses to take tests, and picks on kids who look like easy targets. He's sent to detention almost every day, wondering if that's what it feels like to be in jail. But when Jordan discovers the truth about his dad's crime, he has to question the path he's on.

Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole world revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha--but when practice is interrupted by a shooting outside the church, and a baby is killed, Tia finds that she cannot sing, and she is forced to confront her feelings about her incarcerated father who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.

A young boy passes a painting of a hand on a wall in his neighborhood and watches others placing their own hands against it. The act means something different for each of them: Ms. Iris tells him it is a link to her home country; for Devin, it connects him to his older sister, who just left for college; for Savannah, it reminds her of her grandmother who passed away. The boy thinks of those who are on the other side of the mural, of loved ones lost...