The story of fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs was written in the 1940s but published for the first time in 1994. A good student with a loving family, Johnny comes home from school one day and his world is torn apart: he is told he is being sent away. Unknown to Johnny, his parents were really his foster parents, and welfare authorities have determined that Johnny must move to another family placement. Frightened and dazed, Johnny bolts into the streets of New York, entering a nighttime world of loneliness and fear wholly foreign to him. Over one night, Johnny careens on a whirlwind course of events that are survival-driven, forced to make split-second decisions that will forever change his life. Set in the 1940s, the themes of this tale of racism and urban violence are chillingly timely still. (Age 14 and older)

"Johnny, you're leaving us tonight . . . "

Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs does, well in school, respects his teachers, and loves his family. Then suddenly, with a few short words, his idyllic life is shattered. He learns that the family he has loved all his life is not his own, but a foster family. And now he is being sent to live with someone else.

Shocked by the news, Johnny does the only thing he can think of: he runs. Leaving his childhood behind forever, Johnny takes to the streets where he learns about living life--the hard way.

Richard Wright, internationally acclaimed author of Black Boy and Native Son, gives us a coming-of-age story as compelling today as when it was first written, over fifty years ago.

‘Johnny Gibbs arrives home jubilantly one day with his straight ‘A’ report card to find his belongings packed and his mother and sister distraught. Devastated when they tell him that he is not their blood relative and that he is being sent to a new foster home, he runs away. His secure world quickly shatters into a nightmare of subways, dark alleys, theft and street warfare. . . . Striking characters, vivid dialogue, dramatic descriptions, and enduring themes introduce a enw generation of readers to Wright’s powerful voice.’—SLJ.

Notable 1995 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)