Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty

Neri, G., & De Burke, R. (2010). Yummy: The last days of a southside shorty. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books. ISBN 978-1-58430-267-4; paperback; $16.95. This is the mostly-true graphic story of Yummy, an 11-year-old boy from Chicago who shot and killed a 14-year-old girl in the summer of 1994. Roger, who goes to …

Upstate

Buckhanon, K. (2005). Upstate. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-33269-6; paperback; $11.95. Imprisoned for the murder of his father, 17-year-old Antonio’s only connection to the outside world is his girlfriend, Natasha. Antonio and Natasha are madly in love with each other, so when Antonio receives a sentence of ten years, they are devastated – …

A Wish After Midnight

Elliott, Z. (2008). A wish after midnight. Las Vegas, NV: Amazon Publishing. ISBN 978-0-98255-505-7; paperback; $8.49. Growing up in Brooklyn, 15-year-old Genna dreams of getting her family out of their two-bedroom apartment so that her baby brother Tyjuan can grow up in a neighborhood where drug deals don’t happen outside their front door every day. …

Weetzie Bat

Block, F. L. (1999). Weetzie bat (10th anniversary ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-440818-3; paperback; $7.95. Weetzie Bat and her best friend Dirk are just normal teenagers living under the bright lights of L.A., until the day that Grandma Fifi gifts Weetzie a golden lamp, out of which appears – of all things …