The setting in which the story and the key event occur also the theme of the novel. The story takes place in present day California. Darrell and his mother had moved to California, in November, from Philadelphia, because his mom found a better job that can support the both of them. When the readers first meet Darrell in the first chapter, “with a cold November wind stabbing through his jacket, Darrell took his last walk with his best friend, Malik”(1). In just a few hours, he would leave the only neighborhood he had ever known in his fifteen years. Soon his street, hid school, and every friend he had in the world would be thousands of miles away. The readers can feels Darrell sadness about him leaving his friend and everything that he love
