The Green Forty — Chris White

What makes a man?

Illinois, the summer of 1923: Graham has just turned eleven. Today he will meet the one and only Alice Benjamin, a girl he will think of for the rest of his life as an immortal. She, the goddess, will wield supreme feminine power over his heart as the only woman in Graham's life. Will they grow old together? Or will life intervene?

Illinois, May 1985: Jonathan is ten and already finished with seventh grade. He's bright, but the rest of Jonathan's life will spring from what he chooses this summer. He might end up like his father, dangerous in a bad way. A boy who grows up among the wraiths and concrete and weeds that haunt the south side of Chicago might know hope as a stranger, not a guardian.

Jonathan is in danger, but only in the same way as there's more to learning than school and what can be graded.

What makes a man? Violence? Strength? Courage? Or is it love? Maybe it's harder to pin down. Maybe what makes a man is how he acquits himself inside the crucible, how well he overcomes. Maybe what makes a man is how he loves, how he proves that love. A test is coming for Jonathan. What will he find inside at ten years old?

A summer spent with Granddad at the Green Forty could give him -- or cost him -- everything. When he learns his history, will he become a wraith, or will he grab hold of his true identity?