For readers of The Lions of Little Rock and P. S. Be Eleven, an award-winning middle grade novel inspired by the true events leading up to the 1919 Chicago race riots.
Some people think thereâs a line, and if everybody stays on their side of the line, then weâll all get along just fine.
Thatâs what Billyâs da told him, back before he joined up in the Great War. Da said that sometimes, to do whatâs right, you gotta cross that line.
Course, that was before the war ended and Billyâs da came home with shell shock. Now itâs up to Billy to be man of the house, to take care of his ma and sisters and work at the docks when he can. He ainât no coward, and he donât complain, not even when money troubles mean he has to change schools. Itâs hard times for all the Irishâmaybe even for all of Chicago.
And it gets harder when Billy becomes friends with Foster, a black boy who loves baseball and whose daddy went to war, too. What seems like just horsing around to themâbuilding a raft, spending time in their secret hideout by the creekâstirs up trouble when the rest of the city gets wind of it.
Soon, the boysâ friendship has triggered a series of events that will change both their lives forever. And with racial tensions in the city coming to a head, Billy must decide once and for all what it means to be courageous, to be a friend, and to truly cross the line.