By Chaim Potok
Set against the backdrop of World War II, this coming-of-age story features two 15-year-old boys who meet at a softball game in their Brooklyn neighborhood. Reuven's father is a secular scholar. Danny's is a spiritual leader of a Hasidic tribe. These two bright teens form an unlikely friendship, but it unfortunately unravels amidst Danny's father's objections to the friendship. This story centers around religion (at the time of the founding of the nation of Israel), but its themes are universal. Potok offers an interesting look at the differences between secular and more observant Jews.
This title was featured in a Brooklyn writers book discussion series I co-led with Lauri Burke at the Barrington Public Library. Each of the writers - Chaim Potok, Pete Hamill, Paule Marshall, Alfred Kazin, and Betty Smith - was an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, and each of their stories reflects the building of bridges to a new world.
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