F Words

Sophomore Cole Renner has built his discipline through cross-country running at a public high school in Chicago, where classmates come from many different backgrounds. Racing has taught him to handle punishing conditions and to hold his ground when the pack closes in. Those skills will not be enough to carry him through the troubles ahead. His father, a community activist, has been locked up in Cook County Jail, and Cole's life grows much harder.

At school, an English teacher catches Cole scrawling graffiti with an obscene word that starts with F. Instead of a simple punishment, the teacher requires him to write two poems every week, each one built around a different word that begins with F. Cole's closest friend, Felipe Ramirez, runs for class president against the girl who ended their relationship. Meanwhile a school bully roams the hallways hunting for Cole, and the principal seems far more eager to punish Cole than to deal with the bully.

Cole cares about winning races, but what matters most to him is justice: for his father, for himself, for Felipe, and for the other students around him. Along the way he discovers that actions have consequences, though words carry weight too. Writing in both Spanish and English, he finds the language he needs to fight for what is right.