If You Come Softly (Puffin Teenage Books S.) - Softcover

This is the love story of two fifteen-year-olds, a black boy and a white girl. They meet at the predominantly white Percy Academy, a private school in Manhattan. Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin in his own Brooklyn neighbourhood, but is not so sure he fits in at the Academy - until he meets Ellie that is. Their relationship develops but is not without difficulties and both families have problems they must try to overcome. Tragedy strikes as Jeremiah is shot and killed in Central Park, shot for running and not stopping when asked. He was so happy and in love that he didn't hear the police calling to him. His father had always said, "Never run in Central Park if you're a black guy."

Jacqueline Woodson was born in Ohio and grew up in South Carolina. She has written several books for teenagers and recently won the Coretta Scott King Award which honours African-American writers of outstanding books for children. She has received two American Library Association Awards, and the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Excellence in Fiction for AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FAMILY PHOTO, published by Penguin US. Jacqueline now lives in Brooklyn, New York.