Jimi & Me

After the sudden and violent death of his father, there remains only one certainty in Keith James's life: everything is going to be different now. Barely a month has passed, and Keith is being forced to move from big-city Brooklyn, New York, to small-town Hollow Falls, Ohio.

Keith enters the eighth grade at his new school, not surprised to find he's the only one with an Afro, a wardrobe straight out of the '60s, and a zealous appreciation of Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Struggling to start over, Keith finds comfort in Jimi's music, wisdom in his lyrics, and a connection to the man himself--Jimi was a left-hander who loved to write music and poetry, just like Keith. Through the storm of his tragic loss, Keith begins to see the few rays of happiness in this tiny new town--especially when the beautiful Veronica, long blond hair falling everywhere, looks his way.

Soon, however, Keith discovers there may be a journey even more painful than coming to peace with his father's death--coming to peace with his father's life. As powerful secrets from his dad's past come to light, the man Keith once worshipped suddenly becomes the man he hardly knew. Everything is going to be different now.

Jaime Adoff is the author of the critically acclaimed The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth and Names Will Never Hurt Me. The son of the late Newbery Medal-winning author Virginia Hamilton and renowned poet Arnold Adoff, he lives in Ohio.