Showing results by author "J.P. Barelli" in All Categories

Street Prince is a tender portrait of a twelve-year-old boy, grappling with tragic losses and unforgiving poverty. After giving birth, his teenage mother abandoned him at the hospital, leaving a scribbled note: His name is Lamont, I am no fit mother. Keep my baby boy. Letty J. His maternal grandmother "Elma" raises him as her own child. Thought to be dead, her estranged daughter returns home with two other children. A disastrous homecoming party takes place. Lamont meets a new classmate, the prim and proper Esmaria. The children plan to sit together at church the next day.

Route 66: The Whole Enchilada tells the story of the people of Santa Cuervo, New Mexico. Among its residents are a young boy and his teenage sister who struggle to flee poverty and isolation amidst the town's culture of superstition and folklore. Their odyssey to maturity, love, and prosperity are tested by deeply hidden family secrets. As Route 66 carries strangers, omens, and change into their small town, the characters are pulled into a mystery that has long been buried in the dust and silence of the desert.