Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Author:Andrea Davis Pinkney [DAVIS PINKNEY, ANDREA]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780316084055
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2011-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

YOUNG PEOPLE SING FOR JOE!

JOIN THE BROWN BOMBER BOX CAMPAIGN

ALL IT TAKES IS A VOICE AND A DREAM

RAISE BIG $$$ TO WIN

AGES 12 TO 18

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED

There is practically nothing that could ever make me leave my wagon, but when five special words—Sing, Voice, Dream, Win, and Big—wave at me with both hands and jump up like new friends ready to say hello, my wagon takes a fast backseat to anything else. Not to mention those dollar signs, which are pretty chorus dancers doing high kicks right next to Big.

Now, I know I’m supposed to be good and right and all the rest. But my butter-colored Bentley is waiting, and Easy Street is where I want to be. So I leave my wagon where it is and get out of line.

I rush past everybody else who’s waiting. I pretend to have lost my mama, which is really not faking anything, because even though my mama is nowhere near this coldest day ever, I truly don’t know where my mother is.

That makes it true. I’ve lost my mama.

Somebody shouts, “Hey, you girl, wait your turn like the rest of us!” and all I have to do is whine, “Mama. Have you seen my mama?”

I try to look a little lost. And confused. And—Thankie, Hankie!—I dab at my eyes.

“Maaaama!”

I don’t look over one shoulder or the other, and definitely not behind. My sights are on that sign, and I’m moving.

“Has anybody seen my mama?”

When I get to the front, Mr. Haskell is glad to see me. “Hibernia, what took you so long? I thought you’d be first in line.”

“First for what?” I’m back to mopping my nose with Thankie Hankie.

“I told your daddy last week after church, and I was sure he’d tell you.”

Thankie Hankie’s doing double time, and I’m shaking my head. “If this has anything to do with singing, the Reverend C. Elias Tyson has not told me.”

The people in line are growing restless. “Move it on, child. It’s cold out here!”

Thankie Hankie goes back to my alligator tears. “Maaaama. Where’s my maaaama?”

Mr. Haskell talks fast. “Mike Jacobs, Joe Louis’s fight promoter, is sponsoring a young people’s campaign in towns all over. It’s also a singing contest. They’re raising money for Joe Louis—to keep him on the road and in the ring—in the hopes that the Brown Bomber will become the next heavyweight boxing champion of the world.”

I’m eager to hear more. I point to the place on the sign that’s still waving and dancing in front of me. I ask, “What’s ‘ALL IT TAKES IS A VOICE AND A DREAM—RAISE BIG $$$ TO WIN’ mean?”

“The best singer will earn the most for Joe. Folks plunk down their money in a brown box during the contest. The winner doesn’t get the cash. That goes to Joe’s campaign. But there will be young singers from everywhere in the state, performing for hundreds of people. This is Mike’s way of gathering young fans for Joe Louis.”

Now the words on the sign are dancing the Kangaroo.

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