William Kowalski 
Jumped In 

Sixteen-year-old Rasheed is smart, tough and a survivor. In his neighborhood, he has to be. The streets are run by a gang called the E Street Locals, and they’ve been trying to jump him in since he was a child. So far, he’s managed to escape their clutches. But the gang is not his only problem. Rasheed’s sister, Daneeka, was paralyzed in a drive-by shooting, and now she’s confined to a wheelchair, mentally frozen at the age of nine. His mother is an addict. His father hasn’t been heard from in years. High school is no safer than the streets, so Rasheed seeks solace at the local university campus. There he meets a young woman named Lanaia who takes an interest in him. He also bumps up against a police officer who he thinks at first is hassling him just because he’s black. But eventually Rasheed realizes that the officer is only pushing him to become a better person. Though he can’t escape his home life, or the gang, as easily as he’d like, Rasheed does learn some valuable lessons in his struggles: you and you alone are accountable for the decisions you make in life; even though the world is not a fair place, you can still accomplish whatever you set your mind to; and we all become stronger when we admit we need someone to lean on.

About the author

William Kowalski is the best-selling, award-winning author of many novels including seven in the Rapid Reads line. His first novel, Eddie’s Bastard, won the 1999 Rosenstein Award, the 2001 Ama-Boeke Prize, and occupied the #5 spot on the Times of London bestseller list. His fifth novel, The Hundred Hearts, won the 2014 Thomas H. Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award. He has been nominated three times for the Ontario Library Association’s Golden Oak Award and his books have been translated into fifteen languages. William lives with his family in Nova Scotia.