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 Books by Walter Dean Myers (1 Items)
 What They Found . . . All the stories that truly touch us, that we care for deeply, are love stories. They might be stories of how a woman loves a man, or the love that keeps a family together in hard times, or even the love of a soldier for his country. But it is love that we long for, that makes us whole. In my mind life is about the discovery that love exists in every city, in every state, and in every town and village throughout the world. Sometimes, when the headlines only scream about the violence in our society, when we are bombarded by stories of war and other “big” stories that make the news we tend to forget about all the love that is going on. But the letters I received about my earlier book, 145th Street Stories, seemed to pay special attention to those characters that were in love. Young people wanted to know about Kitty and Mack, others wanted to know about Mother Fletcher, and many wrote about the fighter, Billy Giles, and his deep love for Johnny Mae despite their grinding poverty. I began to realize that it wasn’t the realism in the stories, or even the writing, that was attracting readers. It was the love that the people in this community shared that had inspired the letter writers. Starting with that idea, I began a book about love on 145th Street. I started the book with the idea that love begins with family. The central characters are a father, his wife, and their two daughters, Abeni and Noee. I knew that love could last even if one of the people within the family is gone, and so I was on fairly firm ground when the father died. His love would be with them in the form of what he had already given them in care and concern, and also the opportunity he had provided for them to open the small beauty shop on 145th Street. The two young women are open to the mysteries of love. Abeni is outgoing and sure of herself. Noee is quiet, and reaches out tentatively to make connections. When a street-wise rapper called Burn shows interest in Noee, she is afraid to let her armor down, but then discovers that Burn has his own issues with confidence and an even thicker armor. Love is shown in many ways. A young artist paints a portrait of a single mom and her child and teaches her about her own beauty. An elementary school girl takes over the role of family caretaker, watching that her mother takes her AIDS medicine and that her younger brother is out to school on time. The stories range from guys simply trying to “get over” with some chick to young people discovering that they are far better together than they ever were apart. Some of the stories are light, the young man who, after Abeni decides to end their relationship, asks her to quit him again so he can film it. Some of the stories, tumbling from today’s headlines, are heavy, as in the case of the young couple from the neighborhood who are fighting in Afghanistan and are afraid to invest too much in a life that is threatened on a daily basis. All in all the stories reflect city life and city love as I have known it and, yes, loved it. These are stories of ordinary and sometimes extraordinary people looking for, and often finding, love on 145th Street.
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