FATHER, SON REUNITED IN PAINFUL BUT BEAUTIFUL TALE

Somewhere in the Darkness Author: Walter Dean Meyers Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Pages: 168 Price: $14.95

Aman walks the streets of a New York City neighborhood and tries to ignore the pain in the leg that he drags behind him. Neighbors lean out of their windows and stare at the tall slender man whose bony arms look like sticks under his shirt. He finds the building he is looking for and steps inside.

Meanwhile, Jimmy opens his umbrella and walks home from school in the rain. He has a bad attendance record and feels it is time to be attacked by another fabricated illness. Walking into his apartment building and grabbing the mail, a voice startles him. The tall bony man who entered his apartment hallway a few minutes earlier tells Jimmy his name is Crab - Jimmy's father. But Jimmy thought he was in jail.

Thus begins a Newbery honor book Somewhere in the Darkness, the latest book by young adult novelist Walter Dean Meyers. Meyers is known for capturing the essence of life of African-American children growing up in Harlem. He does it with a different twist in this novel as Jimmy is forced to leave Mama Jean and his familiar New York City neighborhood and move to Chicago with a man who claims to be his father.

A father's plea

Jimmy does not understand why after all these years Crab suddenly appears and demands that Jimmy come with him. As they drive to Chicago, Jimmy learns that his dad has arthritis and wants to get to know his son before he dies. He also wants to convince Jimmy that he did not commit the crime which landed him in jail.

"But I just wanted to settle one thing with you. That's the fact that I didn't kill those guards. No matter what else I done in this world I didn't kill nobody. I couldn't prove it to no judge, and the jury didn't believe me but I can prove it to you!"

"Why didn't I prove it to the jury?" Crab gripped the steering wheel with both hands. "Because I didn't give them a reason to believe what I was saying, that's why. They knew I was a thief. They knew I didn't have an education. All they saw was another black man they had to pass judgment on. That's all. Why should they believe me?"

Jimmy wonders why Crab registered their rental car in another person's name and why a police car is following them if his dad is innocent of the killings. Is Crab telling the truth? Where is he taking Jimmy?

Somewhere in the Darkness is definitely a book that lives up to its Newbery honors. Meyers is an admirable novelist whose words become pictures that bring his characters to life. I highly recommend it for anyone older than 10 who wants to read a painful but beautiful story of a boy's race against time to become reacquainted with his father.