Tough Boy Sonatas - Rilegato

* "The speakers represent voices that are rare in books for youth, and their furious yearning for justice, love, safety, sex, and a good education is unforgettable, as is their hope in what Crisler calls hell." --Booklist, starred review

* "These poems are muscular and vivid, fierce with the sound and force of language." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Floyd Cooper's sepia-toned pastels with a judicious use of blue or orange create psychological portraits of the characters here. Even inanimate objects (a cityscape, a house) pulse with life." --Publishers Weekly

Curtis L. Crisler is a Cave Canem Fellow at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he teaches creative writing. His work has been published in The Fourth River, Black Arts Quarterly, and the book Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami, edited by Judith R. Robinson. Mr. Crisler lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Floyd Cooper is a renowned children's book illustrator whose works include Granpa's Face by Eloise Greenfield, Meet Danitra Brown by Nikki Grimes, and Miz Berlin Walks by Jane Yolen. Mr. Cooper lives with his wife and two sons in Easton, Pennsylvania.