Jerome Lagarrigue

Joe and John Henry are friends who have many interests in common, including swimming. But because John Henry has brown skin and Joe's is the "color of pale moths," they cannot swim together in the town’s pool. Told by Joe and eloquently illustrated, the emotions and power of friends trying to understand an unfriendly world are timeless.

The spirit of Harlem – "the people, the music, the rooftops and the stoops" – infuses this tribute, in fiction, to the collage artist Romare Bearden