THEY CRAWL ON WALLS

An expert paperboy learns about himself while training a newcomer in this LGBTQ+ story for YA readers.

In 1945, on a blustery Christmas Eve after the end of World War II, an orphaned teenage paperboy name Leopold “Leo” Nicholson starts his day like any other, prepping his bundle of newspapers to hawk them on the snowy, wet streets of Chicago. Tony, his boss, asks him to take a new paperboy, Samuel Coleman, under his wing; Samuel is also an orphan, having recently lost his parents in a fire. Leo ignores Tony’s bigoted comment about Samuel’s heritage: “Can't trust a Jew, you know….Be friendly, just don’t get too close.” Leo immediately offers his condolences to the young man. As he and Samuel follow the routines of the day, they have an encounter with antisemitic bullies but also find a moment of beauty when some carolers sing. Leo generously invites Samuel to stay with him after their shift; when he finds out they have even more in common than just being orphans, his memory is flooded with emotions from his youth. Riddle writes in a prose style that follows a poetic linear form, eschewing long paragraphs for short groupings of narrative that add dark color to the sometimes-haunting landscape: “The dock was cold, but the streets were colder. Icy chilled winds blasted them, and as they inhaled together, Old Man Winter sucked the air right from them.” Although it’s a short work at just over 20 pages, Riddle includes secondary storylines that effectively connect to Leo in different ways. One gives the piece its title and draws on a feeling from Leo’s past that he realizes he must confront and accept. The other briefly follows the fate of a character whom Leo and Samuel encountered earlier in the day. The general storyline of orphaned newsboys in postwar America facing hardship is a familiar one, but the story goes to surprising places and highlights an underrepresented reality.

An unexpected connection eases a young man’s loneliness in this vividly written tale.