TAKE BACK THE BLOCK

Take Back the Block is a timely exploration of what it means to belong and to matter in modern cities, as told by a Nike AirMax sporting, videogame-loving boy who will immediately feel like your new best friend.
Wes Henderson has the best style in sixth grade. That—and hanging out with his best friends and playing video games—is what he wants to be thinking about at the start of the school year, not the protests his parents are always dragging him to.
But when a real estate developer makes an offer to buy Kensington Oaks, the neighborhood where Wes has lived his whole life, everything changes. The grownups are supposed to have all the answers, but all they're doing is arguing. Even Wes's best friends are fighting. And some of them may be moving. Wes isn't about to give up the only home he's ever known. Wes has always been good at puzzles, and he knows there has to be a missing piece that will solve this puzzle and save the Oaks. But can he find it before it's too late?
Exploring community, gentrification, justice, and friendship, Take Back the Block introduces an irresistible 6th grader and asks what it means to belong - to a place and a movement - and to fight for what you believe in.

Chrystal Giles is an own voices writer, with a strong focus on creating stories that bring the hopes and hurdles of?African-American?children to the mainstream children's book market. She lives with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina