The year 1976 is just a few months away, and everyone in town is gearing up for the Bicentennial. But Doreen doesn’t feel much like celebrating. It just doesn’t seem right, so soon after the Vietnam War. So soon after Mama Dot and Daddy’s divorce. So soon after her little brother, Bobo, suddenly stops talking. Doreen knows for sure this will be a sad summer, an everybody-leaving-me summer. But under the falling maple leaves, in her mother’s embrace, Doreen begins to learn the knowledge of the heart: You’re never alone if you have love—and your own song of faith.
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Angela Johnson is the author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book When I Am Old with You; as well as A Sweet Smell of Roses, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; Just Like Josh Gibson, illustrated by Beth Peck; and I Dream of Trains, which was also illustrated by Loren Long. She has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels Heaven, Toning the Sweep, and The First Part Last. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Kent, Ohio.
