Pushing Hope
An Illustrated Memoir of Survival
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A School Library Journal Best Book
★ School Library Journal, starred review
“This is what justice looks like. We are told we live in an age of few if any heroes, but Raymond Santana is a real genuine hero. His story is one of unbelievable courage in the face of rampant injustice and impressive resilience as he maintains his dignity and in the face of obstacles that would destroy many of us. Bravo!” —Ken Burns, filmmaker
One of the Central Park Five reflects on his wrongful conviction—and tireless fight for his 2002 exoneration—in this moving young adult illustrated memoir.
Raymond Santana’s story is an example to teens of the power of hope and resilience—and the importance of fighting injustice to stand up for what’s right.
When Raymond Santana was just 14, he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. The 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park was pinned on Santana and four other young teens, a tragedy that would change their lives forever.
In this powerful illustrated memoir, Raymond Santana takes readers on a journey from his move to Harlem, to his arrest and trial, and from his time in prison to his ongoing fight for justice. Exonerated in 2002, Santana has made it his mission to fight wrongful convictions and injustice. What has sustained him and given him the strength for that fight, is his creativity—art and fashion have always been a refuge and a source of hope.
Teaming up with celebrated artist Keith Henry Brown, Raymond Santana shows in vivid color how one can survive by pushing a message of hope.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Based on recorded interviews with Raymond Santana, one of the Exonerated Five, this illustrated memoir—an important firsthand account that opens on the subject's move to Harlem in 1989 at age 14—chronicles his wrongful imprisonment and the events leading to his present-day activism and entrepreneurship. Used to riding his bike to green spaces all over the Bronx and drawing often, Santana had never been in Central Park before the night of his unjust detainment. Detectives interrogate him for 30 hours, denying him sleep, food, and water before coercing him into fabricating a statement incriminating himself and four other boys in the rape of a woman in the park. Following his transfer to Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, Santana relies on education, art, and fashion to help him survive incarceration; these tethers later become the foundation of his prison reform activism. Santana's accessible and conversational text, accompanied by vivid, immediate-feeling mixed-media illustrations by Brown (My Dad Is a DJ), immerses readers in the figure's emotional experiences. Ages 14–up.
