Urban Fiction Annotation
Title:
When I Was the Greatest
Author:
Jason Reynolds
Genre: Urban
Fiction, Young Adult
Number
of Pages: 240
Setting:
Bed Stuy, New York
Time
Period: Modern
Plot
Summary: Ali is growing up in Bed Stuy, New York and is too
focused on his boxing and school to get involved with anything that would make
him stray from his goals. When his friends, Noodles, get them into a misunderstanding
at a party, Ali’s life takes a dangerous turn. Ali, Noodles, and Needles are
now throw into an adventure trying to survive in an environment that is less
forgiving then they are used to.
Characteristics that fit into Urban
Fiction:
Urban Settings: The story takes place in a big urban
city, New York City. This story involves the city they live deeply into the
plot and the lives of the characters.
Hip-Hop Culture: Music is somewhat of an element for
some characters. Perusing a career in music does come up in these story.
Fast-Paced: This story features a lot of drama and
quick scenes to the next.
Similar
Author and Books
·
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon, deals
with a similar theme of unexpected consequences that moves the plot.
·
Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers,
similar elements of friendship and goals.
·
The Scar Boys (The Scar Boys #1) by Len
Vlahos, a similar coming of age story, involving around urban settings.
Relevant
Non-Fiction Works and Authors
·
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in
America by Jill Leovy
·
The Big City Cool : Short Stories about
Urban Youth by Neal Shusterman and Amy Tan
·
Falling Back: Incarceration and
Transitions to Adulthood among Urban Youth by Jamie J. Fader
Hi, Masada! I've been jumping around looking at everyone's blogs and prompt responses when I saw that you chose both LBGTQ and Urban Fiction for this week's annotations. I'll confess, I don't read much of either so I definitely wanted to see what you had to say!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually working on a diversity audit in the YA section of a library where I am interning and I think this book would make an excellent addition to our collection. It ticks so many boxes where we are somewhat short in our collection. Here we have a book written by a black author about black characters plus I checked out Kirkus Reviews and I read that one of the characters has Tourette's. We also want to be inclusive and embrace readers who are differently-abled.
Intriguing book! Thanks!
Wonderful annotation, full points!
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