We are careful not to get caught. It turns out that dad has a janitor's job, and dad and son don't have enough money to rent an apartment. For days the bird flew around, dragging one wing. And then it found the instant when a sliding door was open and slipped through. I watched it rise.
Real life infuses children's books in many different ways.
In the stories that Patricia Polacco writes and illustrates, real life can be a growing-up memory she shares with her readers. In Mrs. Katz and Tush a lonely old Jewish woman is befriended by a black boy in the same building. They become great friends, adopt a cat together and even celebrate Passover. I often feel both sad and uplifted reading Polacco's books. My favorite is I Can Hear the Sun , a sort of mystical, mythical tale with a touch of gritty reality.