Common Sense Note
Parents need to know this book deals with issues of class, street life, love, and runaway teens. There are also discussions of selling drugs, imprisonment, and the child welfare system.
Families can talk about the unrealistic expectations we place on others. What presumptions did Damien have about Junice? What about Junice mother's demands? How does one's expectations influence their behavior and their view of others?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Terreece Clarke
Award winning author Walter Dean Myers brings hip-hop, love, and poetry together for a Romeo and Juliet-like story of teen love. Myers' poetry is rhythmic, authentic, and clever. Damien is supposed to go to Brown University and date the girl his mother likes. Junice is supposed to end up like all the women in her family -- with a long rap sheet and a life spent tangled in the system. Neither teen is sure where they are going in life, but both know there has to be more than what is expected of them.
The cadence of Myers' poetry is grounded in hip-hop beats. The rhythmic, driving prose captures the desperation, hurt, anger, hope, love, and innocence of all the characters. In the novel adults and teens struggle with their evolving roles. Mothers want their kids to live the lives they have planned for them. Teens want to assert more control over their futures. All are desperate to be understood. STREET LOVE, with its urban setting, hip-hop roots, and popular theme is an attractive reading choice. Parents may not like the main characters' choices in the end, but it does provide a great opportunity for discussion.
From The Book
Is the right chick a light chick?
Some straight-haired honey
With a little money and a skinny little nose
Pointing away from her toes?
Or could it really be a girl with some kink to her curl?
A midnight mama with some snap and some sway
Like that treetop sister 'cross the way
Walking like the Queen of the Avenue
Could she interest a lord like you?
Plot Summary:
Damien has it all: an acceptance letter from Brown University, a loving family, and a mom-approved girlfriend. On the flip side, Junice is losing everything: her mother goes to jail for drug possession and she's left caring for her little sister and her grandmother who's slipping into dementia. She's struggling under the weight of it all while trying to keep her sister and herself out of the foster care system. When Damien and Junice meet, their love is unlikely and more powerful than either could have imagined.
Related Books:
More Books by the Author:
Harlem
What They Found: Love on 145th Street
Hoops
The Glory Field
Somewhere in the Darkness
More Urban Tales:
Tyrell by Coe Booth
Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
Reviewed: 03/24/2008
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentQuite a bit of sexual innuendo. A girl discusses that she's not a virgin. A mother worries that her son will be wooed by a girl with legs that "fall apart as if surprised." |
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ViolenceA fight breaks out between two teens, one teen cuts another with a shank, or object sharpened into a weapon. |
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Social BehaviorWhile the main characters have mostly good qualities and demonstrate care and compassion, there are instances where their judgment is lax. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoA woman is convicted of possession and sale of drugs. Adults smoke and drink. |
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