We'll Fly Away

Teenagers Luke and Toby have grown up suffering from poverty, abuse, and neglect and now, in their senior year, are pinning their hopes for escape from their lives and their town on Luke’s wrestling scholarship. Their dreams are dashed, though, when two girls arrive in their hometown and Luke and Toby make many poor choices, with Luke ultimately ending up in prison on death row and Toby following his father’s criminal path. Told through Luke’s letter from prison to Toby and by a third person narrator, this engaging novel for grades 9-12, suitable for a class, literature circle, or independent novel, deals with issues of poverty, abuse, neglect, crime, friendship, the death penalty, and justice. Social considerations noted.