Brenda Woods

Violet is smart, funny and biracial. Her African American father died before she was born, and she has grown up with just her white mother and white older sister. Now that she is eleven, she feels it is time to learn about her African American heritage, so she seeks out her paternal grandmother.

The Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author tells the moving story of the friendship between a young white boy and a Black WWII veteran who has recently returned to the unwelcoming Jim Crow South. On Gabriel's twelfth birthday, he gets a new bike-and is so excited that he accidentally rides it right into the path of a car. Fortunately, a Black man named Meriwether pushes him out of the way just in time, and fixes his damaged bike. As a thank you,...