The Real Education of TJ Crowley

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>NOW AN AUDIE AWARD-WINNING AUDIO DRAMA</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>Adapted by the author and May Wuthrich</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>A deftly crafted thought-provoking and solid work of YA historical fiction.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>-Midwest Book Review</span></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>In the explosive summer of 1968 a line is drawn. In a nation grieving the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that line runs straight through Wichita Kansas-and right down 13-year-old TJ Crowley's property line.</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>TJ's summer is already in turmoil. With his father gone and his brother off to Vietnam he's left alone with his unhinged racist mother who drowns her fears in alcohol. Her answer to the social upheaval is to lock the doors and trust in her old flame a Klansman who vows to keep their all-white neighborhood pure.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>Their resolve is immediately tested when the Washingtons a Black family with a dream of a better life move into the house next door. They are determined dignified and will not be intimidated.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>Working alongside his racist Uncle Ray TJ helps build a privacy fence between the two houses. His mom swears that she'll ground him forever if he ever goes next door. But a fence can't stop the sounds of his future classmate Ivy practicing her cheerleading routines. It can't silence the spirituals sung by her father Dr. Washington. And it cannot halt the questions stirring in TJ's own mind.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(27 28 29 1)>As he is pulled deeper into the escalating conflict TJ must begin his own real education: confronting the ugly truths of his heritage and discovering the humanity that fence is meant to deny. In a world demanding he choose a side he is faced with a life-altering decision: take refuge in the hatred he's always known or risk everything for the neighbors he is just beginning to understand.</span></p>