14-year-old Mason Steel takes pride in turning his father's excited ramblings about the latest civil rights incidents into handwritten business letters. One day Pa comes home with a gift from his civil rights group: a typewriter. Mason spends all his free time teaching himself to type. When a civil rights group wins a school desegregation case, Mason learns that now he will be attending a formerly all-white high school. Despite the injustice he faces, Mason takes a stand, enters a typing tournament and uses his skills to triumph over suspicions and racial prejudice.

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards. It was recognised in the Intermediate category by the Keystone to Reading Book Award. It was recognised in the Picture Book category by the Land of Enchantment Book Award. It also was recognised in the Grades 3-5 category by the Charlotte Award. It was recognised by the Show me Readers Award.

There are 40 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2013 by Lee & Low Books Inc .

ERIC VELASQUEZ is the author and illustrator of The Price of Freedom , Grandma's Records and Grandma's Gift , a Pura Belpre Award winner. He is also the illustrator of The Piano Man , for which he won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award.