Tyrell

Lauded debut is a gritty portrait of homelessness.

Author: Coe Booth Pages: 310 Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Published Date: 10/01/2006 Genre: Fiction - Contemporary Fiction HC Price: $16.99 Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 12 Read Aloud: 15 Read Alone: 15

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this book is strictly for older teens. It is loaded with sex, language, and drugs, all of which are engaged in by the main character, who is 15. Swearing (including the n-word) is frequent, as are sexual encounters between teens and sometimes between teens and adults. Most of the characters, including the main character and his mother, use marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol, and some secondary characters use and sell harder drugs. Adults (including parents) give alcohol and marijuana to minors.

Families who read this book could discuss Tyrell's situation. Are there any better ways out for him? What are his values and how does he hold on to them? Which of his decisions are just plain wrong, and which are just the best he can do in his circumstances?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Matt Berman

This powerful and gritty first novel by Coe Booth, a former crisis-center worker from the Bronx, is not a fun read, and its constant drugs, sex, and rough language make it inappropriate below high school. But it's hard to think of any other book that so clearly and grippingly portrays the reality of millennial inner-city life -- the hard and limited choices, the despair, the waste of human potential, but also the relentless and determined efforts of some to take even one small step on the road out. Despite its difficult content it should have a place in any high school or college class on modern social problems.

Everything rings true here -- events, characters, attitudes, even the constant use of dialect, which is difficult even for veteran authors to manage. But Booth never makes an awkward slip, with the result that Tyrell's voice resonates in the reader's head like that of a real person. Even the ending, which in a twisted way brings a glimmer of hope into Tyrell's life, remains utterly true and faithful to the situation and characters. This is a very auspicious debut of a major new talent.

From The Book

I'm so hungry I just sit there and eat the pork chop in like two bites, then wolf the rice down like I ain't never ate nothing before. Meanwhile, Ms. Jenkins is just talking on and on 'bout how me and my family need to stay close and keep our faith in God strong while we going through hard times. I nod every couple minutes so she think I'm really listening, but to be honest, I'm really tired of everyone saying that. Like they know what we going through.

Plot Summary:

Nothing is working for Tyrell. His father has been sent to jail again, and his mother, unwilling or unable to take responsibility for the family, has lost their apartment, leaving them homeless. Unable to get homeless housing because of the mother's previous attempts to scam the system, Tyrell, his useless and self-centered mother, and his younger brother end up being placed in a single room in a roach-infested motel with no provision for food, and seemingly no way out. Tyrell, trying the best a young teen can to provide for his family and keep his brother out of foster care, drops out of school.

Though he is not above petty crime to buy food, Tyrell resists his mother's efforts to push him into selling drugs. Instead he pins all of his hopes on planning an underground party -- with the money he can make there he hopes to get his family an apartment. But to pull it off he has to rely on others, few of whom are reliable, and most of whom are only out for themselves.

Related Books:

More Kids Surviving the Inner City:
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Circle of Gold by Candy Dawson Boyd
The Planet of Junior Brown by Virginia Hamilton
Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
The Dream Bearer by Walter Dean Myers
Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis

Related Web Sites
Author's Site
Site for New, Gritty Authors
Author's Blog
Author's MySpace Site

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content None described, but young teens (13 and up) have sex, oral sex, masturbate, make out, strip, do lap dances. Adults leer at teens and have sexual encounters with them. Prostitution and pimping.
Violence Some fights, spouse abuse, discussions of why women sometimes need to be beaten.
Language Use of four-letter words and other swearing (including the n-word) is near constant.
Message
	Social Behavior Most of the characters engage in criminal activity of one kind or another, including stealing, selling drugs, bootleg CDs and DVDs, alcohol to minors, prostitution, welfare fraud, and criminal trespass. The main character, though skipping school and engaging in a variety of petty crime to survive, draws the line at drug dealing, despite pressure from his mother.
	Commercialism Several fast food restaurants mentioned repeatedly, electronics brands, video game consoles.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Characters, including teens, smoke tobacco and marijuana, drink and get drunk; references to harder drugs; a parent encourages her son to sell drugs (he refuses).