| Comments: After Jamal’s brother Randy is sent to jail for his role in a robbery that ends in a death, Randy sends him a message to contact Mack, his best friend in the gang The Scorpions. Mack tells Jamal that Randy wants him to take over the gang while he’s in jail. Jamal agrees in hopes that he can earn the money to get his brother an appeal. But Jamal has a normal life; he lives with his mom and sister and while money’s tight, they get by okay. He has a friend Tito, who’s got his back. But now that Jamal’s a gang leader with a gun, will he be able to keep it together?
I didn’t realize how old this book was when I added it to the list but to this day it’s one of our most popular Walter Dean Myers books. It only feels the slightest bit outdated; Myers did an incredible job of having the language sound authentic without being slangy, preserving it for over 20 years now. (Jamal does wish he had enough money to buy a VCR but since he calls it a recording machine we can imagine he wants Tivo.) The relationships between Jamal and his sister and mother, in addition to his relationship with Tito, are just lovely. Jamal has a good heart and wants what’s best for his family but he’s young enough that he can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble. Jamal’s experiences at school being dismissed by his teachers, bullied by Dwayne, and put on Ritalin (wow, this feels contemporary) feel very authentic and heartbreaking.
My issues with the book lie in the fact that Jamal, at 12 years of age, is the “leader” of a gang. I can’t really buy the idea that this gang is all underaged kids because that way they can only get in so much trouble. I also don’t understand how Jamal was ever the leader, considering he said he was leader, and then didn’t do anything with the gang. Gang leaders don’t get to go home and draw pictures and argue with their sister. I feel like if Jamal had been put in a few more situations where he was in charge (like having to make a drug deal or figuring out logistics for a fight) I could have believed the rest of the story. If Jamal had been older than 12, I could have believed it. I could believe it if Jamal wasn’t in charge, but took a job selling drugs to make the money. I know we are meant to like Jamal and that’s why he didn’t do all of those horrible things, but it just seems unrealistic to me, particularly since this is a serious gang, where people die as a result of their actions.
In spite of my reservations, the ending is powerful and I can see why is resonates with today’s teens.
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