Ms. Walker, the school librarian, finds out that Tyrell likes Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, so she gives him some other books to read: the historical novel Chains (2008), the graphic novel New Kid (2019), and the graphic memoir When Stars Are Scattered (2020). After school, Jeremiah runs ahead to get to his meeting with Ms. Gonzalez, but Tyrell lags behind because his backpack is heavy with books.

Tyrell sees a man in a New York Yankees shirt struggling to leave a pet store. In addition to a bag of dog food, the man is carrying a box of mice for his snake. Tyrell helps the man, who gives Tyrell $5. Tyrell then uses the money to buy 10 mice. As Tyrell leaves the shop, he notices a newspaper headline about the increasing number of unhoused people.

June falls asleep in math class, and she tells her friends that she forgot her lunch at home. Worried, her best friend, Eugene, offers to share his lunch, but June declines. Back at Huey House, Maybelle reads library books to Churro. Maybelle now enjoys life at Huey House.