How It Went Down

Magoon, Kekla. How It Went Down.Henry Holt & Co. BYR, 2014.

Tariq Johnson is shot outside a store in his neighborhood. He's shot by a white man who flees the scene. The aftermath of this story is told from multiple perspectives - Tariq's mother, his sister, the girl who tried using CPR to rescue him, a minister who fancies himself a voice of the people, the store owner, the owner of another nearby store, etc. This obviously is a very timely work that is a good representation of current events.

I don't feel qualified to speak on the topic of race or discrimination, so I will leave that subject for other reviewers and instead focus on the narrative itself. It was interesting to read a story from so many viewpoints. I have enjoyed books with multiple narrators before, but this one had so many narrators it became difficult to distinguish between all the voices. That being said, I think having that many viewpoints on an important event like this made sense for the story itself; I just wish I had gotten to know the various characters a bit better. I am also glad that Tariq's little sister, who has a disability, was given her own voice. She wasn't there to highlight her disability; she was just there as a kid whose brother had been shot.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: lots of language, lots of violence
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

The Crossover

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. Harcourt Brace & Company, 2014.

Josh and Jordan are twins who love basketball. The Crossover is Josh's story, talking about basketball and living up to expectations and loss. Told in blank-verse, this book covers a lot of ground - a basketball story, a story with diverse characters, and a story written in poetry. This book would be an easy one to recommend to teens and tweens.

Recommended for: teens, tweens
Red Flags: minor violence
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alikes: The Weight of Water, Dark Sons,

Anatomy of a Girl Gang

Little, Ashley. Anatomy of a Girl Gang. Arsenal Pulp Press. 2014. $16.95. 254p. SC 9781551525297.

Anatomy of a Girl Gang tells the story of a gang of girls in Vancouver who call themselves the Black Roses. Originally bonded together to make up for what each has lost in her own life, the gang quickly escalates to violence and crime. Told in chapters alternating among the gang members, this urban tale of gang culture will have readers turning the pages even after they’ve guessed at the ending.

Little manages a feat few others have done: her narrating characters’ voices read differently from each other. Chapters that tell the same story from different perspectives truly sound different, and Little has managed to capture the voice of an urban gang, the reasons the girls would join, and how the gang devolved into violence. This book has a dark tone, and the gritty writing style perfectly matches the story being told. The novel packs an emotional punch and is a recommended read for anyone who works with young adults in urban settings. This book would be a good addition to an adult collection at a public library, but would also do well as a “grown-up” read-alike for S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

Medina, Meg. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Candlewick, 2013.

Piddy isn't Latina enough for Yaqui Delgado.  Also, she's in honors classes, and she's new, so she's highly suspect.  Thus follows a year of school where Yaqui torments Piddy for no reason other than that she doesn't like her.  Piddy is trying to balance her classes, her job, and avoiding Yaqui and her thugs.  When the bullying escalates to a group assault outside Piddy's house, an assault which was recorded and posted online, Piddy finally realizes something has to give.

This was an okay book.  It's a very real story, and the resolution - Piddy going to a new school, and Yaqui and her gang being sort-of punished because the principal isn't sure how to deal with all of them - is quite realistic.  I am glad for the emphasis on Latino/a culture in this book, and I'm sure it would be popular at my library, but I just didn't enjoy the story.  I strongly dislike the fact that Piddy had to leave her school in order to solve this problem, although I can see that this was the easiest solution.  The only part I liked was that Piddy tried to clean graffiti off of another kid's locker, and that kid, in turn, was the one who reported the bullying situation.  Other than that, there's not much good in here to provide kids with hope against bullying.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: lots of bullying, language
Overall Rating: 2/5 stars

Darius & Twig

Myers, Walter Dean. Darius & Twig. Amistad, 2013.

Darius is a writer; Twig is a runner.  They live in Harlem, and they are trying to find their way out of their urban destiny. As is typical in urban fiction, there are threats of gangs, bullying by some other kids, an abusive family member, etc. etc. Through it all, Darius and Twig maintain their friendship.

As I've mentioned before, I am not a fan of urban fiction.  It's not a world I understand or am interested in, so this book was a bit less enjoyable for me than it would be for the kids in my library who are obsessed with the Bluford series. This book would be a great read-alike for Nowhere to Run, and is a must-read for fans of urban fiction.

Recommended for: teens, fans of urban fiction
Red Flags: violence, drug use, abuse, language
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Nowhere to Run

Griffin, Claire. Nowhere to Run. Namelos, 2013.

Calvin likes to run, and he's staying in school so he can keep a promise he made to his mom.  After school he works at a repair shop and dates Junior when he's able.  But he lives in a tough neighborhood and has a lot of pressure from a local gang.  Can Calvin escape his destiny, or will he be drawn into the violence around him?

I don't like urban fiction, probably because 1) it's not a setting I'm personally familiar with, and 2) it's not a setting I want to be familiar with.  Urban stories aren't always pretty and they don't always have happy endings.  I can see this book being very popular with my patrons, though, some of whom live in neighborhoods much like Calvin's, and many of whom will choose not to finish high school.

Recommended for: teens, tweens
Red Flags: drug use, language, threats of violence
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars