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Each of the 18 kids in Mr. Ward's inner city classroom has something important to say, but some don't even realize it. Then Mr.

This thought-provoking companion to Nikki Grimes' Coretta Scott King Award-winning Bronx Masquerade shows the capacity poetry has to express ideas and feelings, and connect us with ourselves a

Edward Zanni has been kicked out of drama school because he's just too "jazz hands" for Juilliard. He moves to New York City and lands a job working as a stealth guest at corporate parties.

It's 1983, and 17-year-old Edward Zanni wants to study acting at Juilliard, but his newly remarried father--who earns too much for Edward to claim scholarship money--refuses to pay.

A series of poems describes all the baffling changes at home and at school in twelve-year-old Joylin's transition from tomboy basketball player to not-quite-girly girl.