“STEALING HOME”

tells the story of 13-year-old William Martin, a child born in a white middle class family in Kansas City in 1958 when segregation was prevalent. After William’s tolerant father discovers that peer pressure has given William a prejudice worldview, maliciously believing everything he has ever heard about black people, Mr. Martin brings home a black orphan, Alex, hoping that getting to know Alex will remedy it. The two teenagers strike up an unlikely friendship.

William’s life takes an unexpected turn when he and his mischievous friend, Robert, scheme to sneak Alex into a public segregated pool where Alex ends up saving a girl from drowning. William and Alex’s friendship is challenged when William’s prized possession, his baseball signed for him by the New York Yankees, turns up missing when Alex leaves his home. Alex is suspected of the theft and William finds his prejudiced feelings once again reinforced. He becomes a detective to find out the truth.

Nowhere in the story is the “N” word used. The climax consists of a G-rated fight with Alex saving his white friends through his Judo training.