Lonnie Collins (aka Locomotion) is eleven. His parents died tragically in a fire when he was seven, leaving him and his younger sister with no family. He is separated from his sister as they are both placed in different foster homes. Everything seems pretty hopeless for Lonnie when his teacher, Ms Marcus encourages him to write about his story and his feelings through poetry. As we read we realize that Lonnie has found a gift in poetry and we are inspired by the unfolding of his story that is sometimes sad, sometimes funny and in the end very satisfying.