Your Move by Eve Bunting (1998, Hardcover) and similar items

With his mother gone out of the house, James, a 10 year old boy, takes his 6 year old brother with him and tries to fit in with boys who are in a gang. He climbs up and stands on an electric box to spray paint a sign over a highway. He was in a hurry to get away from the scene and dragged his little brother until his knees were scraped and bleeding. When they got home, their mother was at the house. James usually signaled the neighbor by banging on the wall every half hour, but because he missed the signal, the neighbor went over the check. James learned a lesson about putting his younger brother in danger and had the courage to walk away when the leader of the gang brought a stolen hat to his house. This book is an excellent book for young people to read to learn about the dangers of gang activity and the risk to others. I used several copies of this book with my students and gave them copies to take home to read to their siblings. This was one of their favorites. Brand new book.