Zetta Elliott (A) and Shadra Strickland (ILT)

List Price: $13.95 (Paperback – Fiction / Grief and Loss / Mentoring / Art / Hope)

An urban African-American boy transcends the loss of loved ones with help from a caring elderly mentor and from the sustaining ability to create art. Bird looks back and remembers his once-admired older brother Marcus slow descent into drug addiction, expulsion from the family home, and ultimate death-a death that ostensibly led to the decline and death of his beloved grandfather as well. Wise Uncle Son picks up where Granddad leaves off and becomes the steadying and inspiring influence in Bird life as he learns not only the hard lesson that, You cant fix a broken soul, but also to look to the future with confidence. (48 pgs) Ages 8-13

• Lexile Measure: 600