Wright, Richard

New York. 1994. Harper Collins. Uncorrected Proofs. Very Good in Wrappers . 0060234199. 151 pages. paperback. keywords: Literature America Black. FROM THE PUBLISHER - ‘Stay with me, Sis,' his mother sobbed, hugging Big Sis. His mother slowly dried her eyes, her breath heaving in her throat. She stored of Johnny, then looked through the window at the paling winter sky. ‘Johnny,' she began, her tone for away, ‘I was trying to keep from telling you, child, until you got through with your supper. ' She stifled another fit of weeping. ‘Johnny, you're leaving us tonight.' Harlem. The late 1940s. Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs loves his parents, respects his teachers, and is a model student. Suddenly, his familiar world fails apart. Johnny earns he is really a foster child who the welfare authorities hove decreed now must go and live with another family. Stunned by the revelation, Johnny runs away. The startling events that follow, during Johnny's nightlong confrontation with alienation and loneliness, will inexorably push him past the frontiers of childhood and into on unknown, violent world beyond. RITE OF PASSAGE, Richard Wright's never-before-published story of Johnny Gibbs's fall from grace, is as pertinent to the fate of many young people today as it was when it was first conceived nearly fifty years ago. inventory #19296 ISBN: 0060234199.