Tyrell is still holding it down in his project building in the Bronx all alone–holding it down for himself, his younger brother who has to live in foster care, and his friends who are more like family to him. In Bronxwood we follow the teen through every challenge, struggle, and joy while he tries to survive on the streets day to day. His father gets out of prison and immediately expects Ty to revert back to childhood. But Ty has been filling the void for over a year, playing the role while his father was gone, and he isn’t ready to let go, can’t let go. His parents are trying to put their family back together, but Ty feels his whole life is crumbling around him. He has to make tough decisions and turn his back on those he never thought he would. Coe Booth’s writing is bold, conscious, and consistent in Ty’s story, using a real-life voice that readers will recognize and respond to.
MIRACLE’S BOYS was an emotional roller coaster ride. We’re introduced to a family of three teen boys who grapple with the tragic loss of both parents, the secrets they are afraid to share with each other about their parents deaths, and the rekindling of broken relationships between brothers. Tyree and Lafayette, easy characters to love, stole my heart from the very beginning of their tragic story. It was middle brother NewCharlie, who struggled with his losses alone in a boy’s home after committing a crime, who was harder for me to connect with. But as his personal struggle was revealed, this story transformed my thinking at every turn. And although the book ends a little too neatly for me, the characters are real, the setting believable, and the story well written in true Woodson fashion. MIRACLE’S BOYS does not disappoint.
Friend me on Goodreads to keep track of what I'm reading -http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3234241.Ebony_Joy_Wilkins
I found a new favorite in COPPER SUN and will probably reread the story of brave Amari over and over again. Once a secure and betrothed girl in her African tribe, her life is turned completely awry, when her village is attacked and ravaged by white men from America and foiled neighbors of a different tribe. When Amari is sold into slavery, readers are dragged through the dirt, tossed and soiled on a huge ship headed across the ocean, and violated on the docks in front of slave traders right along with Amari. Every person she encounters along her hopeless journey as a slave has a powerful and intoxicating story that helps weave her experience deeper together. One can only pray she makes her way to freedom with her newfound friends in tow and back to the land of her slain parents and younger brother, where copper suns warm the land. There are few other slave accounts I can think of that detail the horror and agony of this time period so beautifully. COPPER SUN is an exhausting journey and exhilarating diary that tops other stories of slavery I can remember. Although I wanted Amari's pain and suffering to end at every page turn, Draper tells this story in a way that makes you want the story to continue on forever.
BLACK AND WHITE sucks you in from page one. Two boys, one white and the other Black, commit the same crime which jeopardizes the strength of their tight friendship. The story is told from both accounts, from the minute the crime is committed to the very end when they have to choose to stick together or part ways. At times their voices are difficult to distinguish, highlighting the closeness of the two college-bound basketball stars. When their nights of bad decisions –which threaten the life of one neighborhood man -starts to haunt them, readers are drawn in and dragged through every emotion these characters feel. With the exception of a couple unnecessary N---- and N---- references, the author takes you on a ride you don’t want to miss. BLACK AND WHITE is reality turned on its face, forcing readers to examine the ideas of friendship and race, and the price that is really paid when it counts.
Choices by Katrina L. Burchett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Burchett tackles heavy content with the ease of a life counselor in CHOICES, a story of urban girls whose lives entwine with accounts teens will surely recognize. Her characters are familiar and engaging, at times sounding years wiser than voices of adolescence. CHOICES is packed full of message, giving readers more than standard dramatic storyline, but relatable scenarios that guide readers through real-life circumstances. CHOICES is almost a version of a bible on its own, complete with verses, prayers, and advice that readers may consult. Every single page of this story leaves readers with ideas to consider.
Bronxwood by Coe Booth
