Synopsis
There's a mystery in Roy's family that puzzles him. Nelson his father and Jesse his father's best friend are both successful businessmen, but his uncle has been in prison as long as he can remember. The three young men grew up together. How did they end up in such different places?
Travel with Nelson back to his childhood. There the boys; surrounded by poverty, gang pressure, and a drug infested environment, are encouraged to dare to dream big dreams. Nelson finds inspiration in the stories of some of the world's greatest dreamers—and he discovers that one of those great dreamers was his own father.
School Library Journal
Gr 6 Up—In this motivational novel, a boy tries to understand how two brothers, one of whom is his father, grew up in the same circumstances and yet led very different lives. Alvin is in prison; his brother, Nelson, is a doctor. The story reveals some valuable lessons while reinforcing the importance of strong family relationships and the value of adults who can guide young people with love and a solid sense of direction. Although promoted as a graphic novel, the book fails to present the genre's characteristics; it has regular prose and few illustrations that are good but faint, giving the impression of opening a time capsule. Lacking originality, the examples cited in the book have been overused to the point of cliché. This is an easy-to-read title that could be used to spark classroom discussions.—Narda McCarthy, Consultant, Para Los Niños, Broward County, FL