"This isn't art," I said. "It's our block! It's our life."
If only, if only... Life is full of poignant hypotheticals for Ty'ree, Charlie, and Lafayette, three brothers who are raising themselves after they lost their father to a drowning accident and their mother to diabetes. Each boy deals with his grief in his own way: the oldest, Ty'ree, has given up his dreams of college to work full time to support the others. Charlie is slipping into a life of crime, and is just back, angry and alienated, from two years at a correctional facility. Lafayette, the youngest brother, has retreated inward, avoiding his friends and blaming himself for his mother's death. These three are struggling against pretty large odds, but "brother to brother to brother," they can survive.
Jacqueline Woodson writes with a sure hand and true understanding of the complexity and depth of young people's lives. Winner of many awards for her novels, including two Coretta Scott King Honors (for From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun and I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This), she tells a captivating, honest story. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter