Finding Langston, Cline-Ransome Lesa

When eleven-year-old Langstons father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicagos Bronzeville district, it feels like hes giving up everything he loves.

Its 1946. Langstons mother has just died, and now theyre leaving the rest of his family and friends. He misses everything--Grandmas Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved.

In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos. It doesnt feel like a new start, or a better life. At home hes lonely, his father always busy at work; at school hes bullied for being a country boy.
But Langstons new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the Chicago Public Library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston--a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him.

Lesa Cline-Ransome, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book Before She Was Harriet, has crafted a lyrical debut novel about one boys experiences during the Great Migration. Includes an authors note about the historical context and her research.

Dont miss the companion novel, Leaving Lymon, which centers on one of Langstons classmates and explores grief, resilience, and the circumstances that can drive a boy to become a bully-- and offer a chance at redemption.