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Acclaimed author Charlie Carillo revisits Shepherd Avenue, the novel that sparked his career, in a witty, moving story about growing older and (sometimes) growing up . . . For the second time in a few weeks, Joey Ambrosio has done something reckless. The first incident�climbing to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge to scatter his father�s remains�earned him newspaper headlines and court-ordered therapy. This time, he�s doing something arguably even more dangerous: buying his grandparents� old house in the rough Brooklyn neighborhood where he spent an idyllic summer half a century ago. With boarded up stores and bars on every window, Shepherd Avenue sure isn�t the way it used to be. Then again, neither is Joey. In 1961, he was a newly motherless kid trying to find his way. Now a successful children�s book author estranged from his grown daughter, he�s viewed with suspicion by his new neighbors�and with amusement by the beautiful Puerto Rican laundress across the street. Amongst the colorful misfits of his past and present he�s hoping to heal old wounds, forge new bonds, and figure out what exactly brought him back here . . . and how, at last, to move on. Praise for Charlie Carillo and Shepherd Avenue An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year �An excellent writer and a marvelous storyteller. . . . He creates a special world on Shepherd Avenue that I loved to enter and hated to leave.� �Ferrol Sams