Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty-- G. Neri and Randy DuBurke, Illustrator

Robert Sandifer is 11 years old. Everyone calls him Yummy because he has a sweet tooth that just won't quit. He lives with his grandma in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. He's just a little guy, a shortie, only 4 feet tall and maybe 60 pounds. Yummy still sleeps with a teddy bear. And Yummy shot a 14 year old girl. He shot her with a gun that was given to him by his mentors, members of the gang Black Disciples.

Yummy has an extraordinarily hard life. His father is in prison. His abusive mother has been in and out of jail for drugs and prostitution over 40 times. Yummy learned that the only way to be safe was to have a gang watching out for you. But being a part of the Black Disciples has it's price and Yummy paid it in the fullest.

This powerful graphic novel is short, but compelling; you really feel for Yummy. He was a criminal by the age of 11, but still completely a child. He was used and abused by almost everyone who entered his life, and his loyalty to his chosen family, his gang, only led to betrayal. In a situation as horrific as Yummy's, it's hard to blame him for his actions... yet an innocent girl was dead and he shot her. So how is that not his fault?

Oh, and did I mention that this is a true story? Robert "Yummy" Sandifer really did live in Chicago and this incident happened in 1994. While the topic of this story is mature and could be hard to handle for some youth, the pictures and description of events are appropriate even for younger teens. I would recommend this to teens who want true stories, reluctant readers who aren't afraid of the topics covered within, and teens who like gritty street stories.

Dope Sick-- Walter Dean Myers

Lil' J is a good kid... mostly. In some ways he is a product of location and circumstance, but in the end, aren't we all responsible for our own choices? When a bad bad decision leads to life-threatening a situation, Lil' J hides away in an abandoned warehouse hoping that somehow he will make it out alive. He didn't expect to meet Kelly, a squatter who eerily knows details about Lil' J's past and future... and can show them on his TV set. While this is realistic fiction, a small element of sci-fi is seamlessly blended in, and it makes for a much richer story.

I really enjoyed this book. I love how Myers uses street slang dialog in a way that people who are unfamiliar with it can still understand the conversations. Also, while the story does have a resolution, there is no pretending that all things end up perfectly. This is where Myers excels... he writes that perfect blend of hope and realism that doesn't read as fake and impossible. Guys and girls who like urban fiction will enjoy this book. I can't wait for this book to come out in paperback so I can purchase it for the Juvie boys... they will love it!

Snitch-- Allison van Diepen

After both the girls and the boys at the Juvenile Detention Center kept begging me for more books by Allison van Diepen, I figured I better read one and see what all the hype is about. I am really glad I did. It is easy to get sucked into my role as librarian and forget that teens are the target audience for all this teen fiction I read... so I should really take any book recommendation that teens give me! Anyway, on to Snitch...

Snitch is not a nickname you want... especially when you go to South Bay High School in Brooklyn. The Crips and the Bloods rule the school, and you have to be very careful and more than a little lucky to avoid the tangled webs of gangs when you live where Julia does. For most teens, high school can be a survival game, at least emotionally, but for Julia, everyday is literally a fight for her life. When she wrongfully gets pegged as a snitch, she joins the Crips for protection... and learns the hard way that the lesser of two evils is still evil.

I really appreciated that Snitch didn't have a preachy anti-violence, anti-gang message. As any teen who lives in an area dominated by gangs will tell you, it's usually not as easy as just saying no. Without the heavy-handedness that many authors have, van Diepen tells a story that has an underlying anti-gang anti-drug message, but lets her characters make mistakes and learn the hard way. If you like realistic, urban fiction, this is the book for you.