2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (2)

Homeboyz by Alan L. Sitomer

Seventeen year old Teddy Anderson's world has just been turned upside down. His fourteen year old sister Tina, was gunned down by the 0-1-0's (a gang), because she was in the wrong place, in the wrong time. Teddy's parents are devastated and are considering getting a divorce and Teddy is out for revenge. Teddy beats down three of the gang members to try to get the name of the person responsible for his sister's death, but the police get their and arrest him for assault. The judge sentences him to three hundred hours in the G-PIP program, a gang intervention program that Teddy will serve as a mentor to an at risk child and he is chosen because of his high intelligence. He is to mentor, twelve year old Micah, an orphan and ward of the state. He has been flunking all his classes and has been hanging around with members of the Serpent Street gang. At first they don't like each other, but once Teddy brings Burger King hamburgers to Micah and stopped judging him, Micah started warming up to him. Teddy showed him how to overcome his dyslexia and Micah's grades started improving. He even took him to his home on Tuesdays for dinner and Teddy became the only person he could really count on and trust. As all of this was going on, Teddy hacked into the schools computer, created an account, and was withdrawing monies from the school districts budget for himself. His plan was to allocate enough monies to run away and live off of it. Micah wants to help Teddy find the killer and he gets initiated into the Serpent Street gang. He tells Teddy the real killer was a Serpent Street gang member by the name of Mumzy B, not a 0-1-0 gang member as everyone had first thought. Teddy goes after him, but when he finds out Mumzy B is going to be a father and was set up by Eevil, the Serpent Street's leader, he lets him go. Teddy goes after Eevil and calls him out on a one to one fight. Teddy beats him and the police get their just in time to arrest Eevil. Teddy's parents decided to stay together and adopted Micah as their son. Instead of keeping the stolen money from the school district, Teddy transferred the money over to the G-PIP so the program could keep on going. I immensely enjoyed reading this novel. Once I started, I couldn't put the book down and had to find out what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to upper grade and at risk students. Students will be able to identify with Teddy and/or Micah because of gang violence that is all around their homes and schools. The books strengths are that it is an easy read and students will be able to relate to the story.