Lonnie explains that his life is too hard to talk about, so his teacher Ms. Marcus encourages him to write it as poetry.

Lonnie sneaks to the rooftop at night and imagines the stars are his deceased parents watching over him.

Lonnie moves into foster mother Miss Edna's small apartment, where she constantly tells him to be quiet.

The boys in Lonnie's group home label him a Throwaway Boy, a child no one wants.

Lonnie reveals that his mother loved the song Locomotion so much that she named him after it.

After learning about epistle poems and Langston Hughes in class, Lonnie writes a letter in verse to his deceased father.

When friends share tragedies they have each witnessed, Lonnie stays silent and lies by saying he has seen nothing terrible.

A new boy named Clyde joins Lonnie's class, and classmates mock him for his country clothes and Southern speech.

On the four-year anniversary of the fire, Lonnie wakes up physically ill and Miss Edna stays home to care for him.

Lonnie visits his younger sister Lili, who gives him her Bible and calls him the best brother in the world.

Ms. Marcus tells the class that Eric has been hospitalized with sickle cell anemia, a disease that disproportionately affects Black Americans.

Miss Edna's son Rodney visits on Easter and calls Lonnie little brother, making Lonnie feel he finally belongs to a family.

Lonnie writes a poem called The Fire, recounting how his parents died while he and Lili were away on a church trip.

Ms. Marcus tells Lonnie he has a poet's heart, and Lonnie repeats the compliment to himself with pride.

Lonnie and Lili walk together at a church picnic, basking in warm sun, as poetry begins flowing effortlessly into his mind.

After losing his parents in a fire, eleven-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion is placed in a group home where the other boys call him a Throwaway Boy. He eventually moves in with foster mother Miss Edna and begins writing poetry at the encouragement of his teacher, Ms. Marcus. Separated from his sister Lili and struggling with grief, Lonnie slowly opens up through writing, friendship, and the painful anniversary of the fire. When Lili gives him her Bible and Rodney — Miss Edna's son — calls him little brother on Easter, Lonnie begins to feel he belongs somewhere again. Writing a poem about the fire allows him to finally confront his greatest loss, and Ms. Marcus's recognition of his poet's heart marks a turning point in his confidence. By the end, walking in the sun with Lili at a church picnic, Lonnie finds that love and poetry have carried him through his grief.

Lonnie's core journey from grief to belonging.

Ms. Marcus teaches Lonnie that line breaks in poetry help both the reader and the poet identify what matters most.

Lonnie recalls a tender early memory of carefully braiding his younger sister Lili's hair before they were separated.

Lonnie writes a Halloween poem about wanting to draw pumpkins like younger kids, and wishing he had an older brother to protect him.

Lonnie writes a sonnet he claims is not about love, though it actually expresses his deep love for family and poetry.

After Miss Edna gets her paycheck, she and Lonnie share Twinkies; a cashier assumes Lonnie is her son, and Miss Edna smiles without correcting her.

Miss Edna prays regularly for her two grown sons: Jenkins, a soldier fighting overseas, and Rodney, living in upstate New York.

At recess, Lonnie watches Clyde put his arm around his younger sister and chokes up thinking about his own separation from Lili.

When Ms. Marcus asks students to write poems about their families, Lonnie has nothing to say and stares at the rain outside.

During a solo recess shooting hoops, LaTenya approaches and flirts with Lonnie, an encounter that makes him feel he has found God.

Lamont discovers that rap and hip-hop lyrics are a form of poetry and becomes enthusiastic about writing for the very first time.

Lonnie studies a photograph of his parents dancing and realizes he can hear his mother's laughter just from looking at it.

Miss Edna dances alone in the kitchen, overjoyed because her son Rodney has called to say he will visit for Easter.

During a Sunday church service with Miss Edna, Lonnie secretly writes the word hope on the palm of his hand.

A TV news crew visits the classroom after Ms. Marcus wins Teacher of the Year; a reporter describes her students as underserved.

At recess, Lonnie stands beside Clyde and the two boys bond over their shared memories of and love for Georgia.

Ms. Marcus's early lesson about line breaks teaches Lonnie to slow down and reflect on what matters most to him as a poet. Memories of braiding Lili's hair and poems about Halloween and love reveal how deeply Lonnie mourns his family and longs for connection. Small moments with Miss Edna — sharing Twinkies, watching her pray for her two sons — show that his foster home holds real warmth even when he can't see it. When Lonnie cannot write about his family amid a thunderstorm, and when LaTenya briefly brightens his recess, we see him moving slowly between grief and tentative joy. Discovering that rap is poetry, bonding with Clyde over Georgia, and secretly writing the word hope on his hand at church signal his growing openness to the world. A TV news crew's visit to celebrate Ms. Marcus shows how far Lonnie has come, as he reads one of his own poems aloud for an audience.

The quiet moments that shaped Lonnie's healing.

Lonnie recalls holding baby Lili on his lap while his mother cooked nearby, as a pigeon pecked at the window glass.

Lonnie searches a drugstore for the scent that reminds him of his mother but leaves quickly, afraid of being accused of stealing.

Lonnie realizes he has become a Throwaway Boy after his relatives gradually stop visiting him in the group home.

Lonnie writes a poem insisting that even though his parents died in a fire, the fire could not take them completely away.

From the rooftop, Lonnie imagines falling upward into the sky and traveling to beautiful places before landing back at home.

Lonnie writes a poem listing everything he is wearing, including his father's watch and his mother's gold cross necklace.

Lonnie's neighbor Todd tends to his pigeons with great love, teaching Lonnie to see the birds as beautiful rather than a nuisance.

Eric catches Lonnie writing poetry alone at recess, calls him a punk, and mocks him harshly for it.

Lonnie reflects that writing and revising poetry is sometimes deeply satisfying when words click, but other times deeply frustrating when they fail.

Lamont insists no Black guys write poetry; Ms. Marcus lists Black poets, and a classmate reveals that someone in their neighborhood was just shot.

A class debate about whether poor people can be happy leaves Ms. Marcus uncomfortable and staring silently down at her hands.

Lonnie recalls his mother's story that she called him her little survivor because he weighed only four pounds at birth.

Rodney walks with Lonnie after Easter and puts his arm around Lonnie's shoulder, calling him little brother and offering him shade.

Eric returns to school after his hospital stay, appearing smaller and quieter, and no longer responding to his usual nickname.

LaTenya confides that she was born with extra fingers; Lonnie gently touches the bump on her hand and says she is not a freak.

Lonnie's transformation begins with small but piercing truths — searching for his mother's scent and fearing he'll be seen as a thief, and realizing he has become a Throwaway Boy once his relatives stop visiting the group home. He climbs to the rooftop to imagine other worlds and wears his parents' jewelry as armor against grief. Painful encounters — Eric mocking his poetry writing, a raw class discussion about Black poets followed by a classmate's mention of a neighborhood shooting, and the silence after a debate over poverty — force Lonnie to reckon with the world's cruelty. His mother's old claim that he was a four-pound survivor sustains him, and Rodney's arm around his shoulder finally gives him a living brother figure. Eric's quiet return from the hospital and LaTenya's vulnerable confession about her hidden scars remind Lonnie that everyone carries pain, and that compassion, like poetry, is its own form of healing.