In 1960, children’s author Mary Stolz published a book called The Dog of Barkham Street, about a boy, a dog, an undependable uncle, and a bully named Martin. Three years later the sequel to The Dog of Barkham Street, The Bully of Barkham Street, told the same story from the point of view of Martin, the villain/bully of the first story. I remember reading these two books and being made to think about how the same story can look completely different from a different point view. Author Susan Perabo writes about this recognition that everyone has his own story in a blog post at Read It Forward called What I Learned on Barkham Street.

It’s an important lesson, and not one we learn from being preached at. As Ms. Perabo says, “In the hands of a lesser writer, these books might have seemed like teaching tools instead of great stories—a ten year old can smell a life lesson a mile away.” I still have Mary Stolz’s books in my library, and they still speak powerfully to children (and adults) about understanding and character and looking at people from a different perspective. Nevertheless, there’s room in the world for more than one story like this. Finding Langston and Leaving Lymon by Lesa Cline-Ransome are two books written much in the same vein as Mary Stolz’s titles. And the two books together have the power to bring a sense of empathy and understanding to a new generation of readers.

Finding Langston tells the story of a young African American boy who moves from Alabama to Chicago with his father during what is called The Great Migration, the movement of many Black Americans from the Jim Crow South into the cities of the northern United States. Langston is a country boy, and he finds the streets and schools of the big city unfriendly and difficult to navigate. The bullying and teasing he receives from classmates, especially the mean, hostile for no reason, Lymon, is almost more than Langston can stand. Nevertheless, Langston finds solace in the library and in the poetry of Langston Hughes.

Lymon is a minor character in Finding Langston, an unrepentant bully and just another hard thing for Langston to learn to overcome or endure. But in Leaving Lymon, Lymon gets his own story. We find out why Lymon is so angry, why he doesn’t have the strength or maturity to be kind or friendly, and why Lymon and Langston can’t understand each other despite their similar backgrounds. Both boys have moved to Chicago from the South; both come from country roots,; both find some comfort in the arts, Langston in poetry and Lymon in music. But instead of sharing their stories and finding connection, both boys are trapped by their own troubled circumstances.

In spite of the difficult topics that are covered in these two novels—death, grief, abuse, bullying, abandonment—both books do have the requisite somewhat happy and hopeful ending. Langston learns to stand up for himself and to feel a connection to his dead mother. Lymon is still angry at his parents for abandoning him, but he learns to express that anger and to look to the future rather than dwelling on the unfixable past. I think Mary Stolz would like these new books on an old theme of walking a mile in the other person’s shoes.