AN ANGEL FOR SOLOMON SINGER

Old Solomon lives alone in a dreary hotel on N.Y.C.'s Upper West Side, longing for things he can't have--a balcony, a picture window to see the birds, the freedom to paint his wall purple. Not loving where he lives, he wanders the streets, where he finds the Westway Cafe. He likes the name--it reminds him of his native Indiana; he responds to a friendly waiter's smile (whose name turns out to be Angel); and, pursuing his own dreams, he imagines ordering the things he yearns for along with the tomato soup. In time, this tenuous beginning transforms Solomon's outlook: he begins to enjoy the city lights, feels friendlier, and makes at least one dream come true by secretly adopting a cat. This tender vignette, narrated with eloquent simplicity, has appeal for almost any age; Catalanotto's empathetic watercolors extend (but certainly don't limit) the range to younger children. Using telling details and an evanescent blend of imagination and reality, as he did so effectively for Lyon's Cecil's Story (1991), he poignantly evokes Solomon Singer's loneliness and poverty and the way One warm human contact changes him. A very special union of text and an in a memorable portrait of one lost old man who symbolizes many more.