Zip Code — Louis Romano

What happens when two, poor disadvantaged kids from the Bronx trade places for their senior semester of high school with two kids from affluent Ridgewood, NJ? Although less than 20, physical miles separate them, their worlds, as they discover in a school sociology experiment, might as well be a million miles away. Racial profiling, cyber bullying, fat shaming, interracial dating, gangs, and cockroaches vs special privilege, gym memberships, and hopes and dreams are experienced by the students for the first time. This inspirational teen/ya book explores what one does to make the world a better place after walking a mile in another's shoes. Do those with privilege go back to their life changed and determined to help those less fortunate? Do those from DeWitt-Clinton in the Bronx not let their ZIP CODE determine their destiny like their fellow student before them, Ralph Lauren, didn't? Which path will youth today follow? A realistic, life-view of the struggles teens face today; a cross between The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Prince and the Pauper.