In a picture book that blends realism and fantasy, a shoeshine boy is surprised when apiece of red silk falls from the sky. Trying to find its owner, he ventures up and downfire escapes, back and forth across clotheslines, and into the company of the colorfullydiverse people who live in the tenement. Lively pages laid out in multiple panels, witha few words of text in dialogue balloons, capture the exhilarating action, and foreignlanguagephrases are translated on the endpapers. There is a cheerful side to a neighborhoodpacked with people of different origins—the opportunity to make friendsacross race lines, culture lines, and clotheslines!