As chronicled in The Way a Door Closes (Henry Holt, 2003), thirteen-year-old C. J.’s world was turned upside down when his father walked out on their family. Since then, C. J. has taken on the role of night watchman at their house, making sure that everyone is safe and sound. When C. J.’s father returns to their lives, C. J. is not sure he can trust him in the role he abandoned. Told in powerful and accessible poems, and illustrated with E. B. Lewis’s tender and metaphoric watercolors, the seasons and emotions of C. J.’s year cycle through. Hope Anita Smith soundly portrays anger, fear, and hope in this second volume about an African American family learning to heal. (Ages 11–15)

So many unanswered questions weigh down thirteen-year-old C.J. as he struggles to understand why his father walked out. His father is back now, though C.J. is not as quick to forgive as the other members of his family. He still feels the weight of responsibility that fell on his shoulders when Daddy was gone, and he's not prepared to give that up. But C.J.'s anger is making him a stranger in his own home, and instead of life seeming better now that Daddy has returned, it feels worse.

Through powerful poems, Hope Anita Smith chronicles the nuanced emotions of a family that is slowly learning to heal and put the pieces back together.

"Keeping the Night Watch" is a 2009 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.