The F Words — Barbara Gregorich

Flexibility
in the claws of injustice
doesn't mean we slide
free, escaping their pain, but
that we mend to rise again.

Sophomore Cole Renner knows teamwork inside and out from running cross-country at his multi-ethnic Chicago public school. He knows about braving the elements and not getting passed in the chute. What Cole doesn't know is how much he'll need all of his mental and physical skills when the doors of Cook County Jail slam shut on his father, a community activist; when his English teacher catches Cole tagging the school with the F word and assigns him to write two poems a week, each on a word that starts with F; when his best friend Felipe Ramirez runs for class president against the girl who dumped him; when the school bully prowls the halls looking for Cole and the principal seems more interested in punishing Cole than the bully. As much as Cole wants to win meets, what he wants, even more, is justice -- for his father, for himself, for Felipe, and for his fellow students. Cole learns that actions matter, but so do words. He takes his written words (Spanish and English) and turns them into the right words to fight for justice.