When young Tybre Faw read Rep. John Lewis's favorite poem, Invictus, at the civil rights icon's July 2020 funeral, he captivated everyone watching — including bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney. Now, Faw's unlikely friendship with the late Georgia representative is the subject of Pinkney's new children's book Because of You, John Lewis, which also explores Lewis's relationship with Martin Luther King Jr.

Faw was 10 in 2018 when he drove seven hours with his grandmothers from his home in Johnson City, Tennessee, to join his idol at a civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. The two stayed in touch and got together several times; after Lewis died, Faw was asked to read at his funeral.

When Faw first met Lewis, "I was in tears," the now-14-year-old recalls to PEOPLE. "I told him why. And then he said, 'Just make sure you keep straight A's and be a good student and make sure you get in good trouble.' Which I will always try to do in my entire life."

"One of the key threads of the book is that John Lewis wanted to meet Martin Luther King Jr. more than anything," Pinkney says. "He wrote a letter and they became friends. Tybre wanted to meet John Lewis. He reached out, went to Selma and they met. So it's just amazing how history has repeated itself literally in every way. John Lewis met his civil rights hero, Tybre Faw met his and Tybre will be the hero for some other young person who's coming up next."

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