“The only thing that hurts more than tears shed is tears unshed.”
——Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Have You Seen Luis Valez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde is a powerful story about kindness overcoming fear. The contemporary story takes place in New York.

Raymond Jaffe, almost seventeen, feels like he doesn’t belong, not with his parents, nor at school. His only friend from school is moving to California. Raymond lives with his mother and her husband and their three little girls. His dad has remarried, and although he gets along with his father, his father’s wife acts like it’s an imposition when he visits them every-other weekend. To make things even more complicated, Raymond is biracial—his mother is white, his father Black.

One day, as he is goes down the stairs from his apartment, an older woman calls out to him: “Have you seen Luis Velez?” He almost ignores her, but then feels compelled to approach her. She’s old, 92, and apparently blind.

Mildred Gutermann, a German Jew who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, lives alone. Her friend and helpmate, Luis Velez, has not shown up for weeks. He used to faithfully come to her apartment and take her to the bank and grocery store. Now, she is nearly out of food and is unable to navigate New York’s busy streets alone.

When Mildred hears Raymond’s footsteps down the hall, she calls out to him, asking if he’s seen her friend. Raymond hadn’t, nor does he even know Luis Velez, but his kind heart can’t refuse the chance to help her. What develops is a strong, rewarding friendship between the two.

While Raymond isn’t attending to Mildred’s needs, he’s determined to find out what happened to Luis Velez. In checking the phone book he discovers about twenty men with that name. One by one he tracks them down, determined to find Mildred’s friend. What develops is rich testimony to the kindness of strangers, but also the suspicious nature of some.

I loved this story of compassion. The unlikely friendship between this teenage boy and an old blind woman is heartwarming. I also enjoyed the vicarious visit to New York: getting around the huge city and dealing with the wide range of people who live there. Catherine Ryan Hyde is expert in deeply delving into the hearts of her characters, producing a rich sense of knowing them. Teens would enjoy this book, too, and many would relate to Raymond’s feelings of isolation.