<i>My best friend, Preacher, is being just that. His sermon today is on fathers and I am his congregation.</i><br /> <i>"Dads are light. They have no roots.</i><br /> <i>One strong wind, and they're gone.</i><br /> <i>Out of here. History."</i><br /> <br /> With a click, a bang, a whisper - or no noise at all. There are so many ways that a door can close, but it's not just the closing; it's the knowing. And thirteen-year-old CJ knows too much - about losing his father, about his family's pain, and especially about what it means to hold things together when times are the toughest.<br /> <br /> In this beautifully written and powerfully moving novel in poems, Hope Anita Smith tells the story of a young man's struggle to accept a father who has walked out on his family. Here, in CJ's words, is a portrait of hurt and healing, and finding the strength to open the door again. <i>The Way a Door Closes</i>is the winner of the 2004 Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe New Talent Award and the 2004 Bank Street - Claudia Lewis Award and is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.