The reaction of the police and the community to Dash’s disappearance was a stereotypical response to the disappearance of a poor black man and discouraged any effort to find Dash. Neither Summer nor Dash has more than a high school education but their daily engagement with poetry and words defies the stereotype of poor and ignorant. Race is not mentioned although the book cover indicates this is an African-American family. How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? Poverty is the major character in this story, the context for all the events. The book’s title, Hold Fast, comes from a Hughes’ poem, “Dreams.” It’s a suspenseful mystery with characters that claim respect and attention. Literary elements at work in the story: The author and her characters are in love with words-definitions, etymology, a table of contents of single syllable words, and poetry demonstrate their importance. Resourceful Early starts a campaign to reclaim abandoned houses for the homeless before Dash finally returns to them. The First Book of Rhythms has a part in the solution of this mystery. Early finds help from one of Dash’s favorite high school teachers and returns to the library to investigate his disappearance. With the door to their apartment broken and no money, three Pearls are forced to move to a homeless shelter where such things as doing laundry, making a phone call, finding privacy, and taking a bath are continuous challenges. Early has been reading the Hughes book and the thieves do not realize they have missed it. The next day four masked people break into their apartment, destroying its cheerful order while they take all their books. The police treat this as the normal disappearance of an irresponsible man but his family knows something has happened. Then one day Dash disappears leaving on the street his notebook of words, his bike, and the groceries. From one of these boxes Dash removes The First Book of Rhythms by Langston Hughes, paying a fair price for it to Al, who brings him the boxes. He does extra work processing and transporting old books to a book seller to make money for this dream house. Dash works as a library page sharing with his family his love for words and poetry. Summary: The Pearl family-Dashel, Summer, Early, and Jubilation-live in a one room apartment and dream and save for the day when they can have a house.

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