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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
I figured I needed to read this quick little YA sports book to see if I could recommend it to teens. I actually read it years ago, but didn't blog about it so I completely forgot about it until I was about halfway through.[return][return]Marcus and Eddie are best friends, known as "Black" and "White" because of the color of their skin. They're both star basketball players for an inner city team and both plan on playing Div I in college. But when money is tight, they decide to use Eddie's grandfather's gun to scare up some funds. Why not hold up a few people to raise the money they need for Senior dues and new basketball shoes? So they do. But the gun goes off, a man is hurt, and witnesses recognize them. But the race card is far from over in this quick little book. Marcus is recognized, Eddie isn't. And the justice system takes it from there.
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Book discussion selection for work. Highlights the differences between races encountered in the criminal justice system. Also shows how bad choices can drastically affect your life.
Sometimes one decision can lead your life in a completely new direction. In this book, the decision involves a gun and robbing people to buy new shoes. Once the decision is made, Eddie and Marcus, who have not succumbed to stereotypes and racism, find themselves in a situation that threatens their friendship.
I would actually give this 3.5 stars. I liked the alternating narrators, but definitely found myself gravitating to one character over the other. After reading the Afterword, I'm wondering if that was done purposefully on Volponi's part to make a statement about race and the justice system. Something about the book leaves me feeling a little empty--like it was a book of moments, but not really a narrative where all parts worked together seamlessly.
I would actually give this 3.5 stars. I liked the alternating narrators, but definitely found myself gravitating to one character over the other. After reading the Afterword, I'm wondering if that was done purposefully on Volponi's part to make a statement about race and the justice system. Something about the book leaves me feeling a little empty--like it was a book of moments, but not really a narrative where all parts worked together seamlessly.
Black and White do everything together on and off the basketball court. They even rob people. At gun point.
I had a hard time feeling sympathy for either of them.
I'm sure that my students will like reading this book. I'll have a hard time not asking them to explain what they would do if they were in the same situation. I would also ask (often) if tennis shoes were worth it.
I had a hard time feeling sympathy for either of them.
I'm sure that my students will like reading this book. I'll have a hard time not asking them to explain what they would do if they were in the same situation. I would also ask (often) if tennis shoes were worth it.
this was an excellent book! the author tells the story based on things that he has seen as an innner city youth counselor sad to know that there is still that line between black and white
Volponi's book came recommended by other English teachers as a book that students liked. I felt it was decent, but it didn't blow me away. In fact, I was more than a little annoyed by both protagonists and felt that their crime was so unjustified that I felt little sympathy for their predicaments. The book is written in alternating first person narrative.
In the story, "Black and White" are the nicknames of the two main characters, Marcus and Eddie. They've been friends for all of high school, inseparable on and off the basketball court despite racial tensions that seem to loom close to the surface in their school and community. Their nicknames relate to their respective races. Neither boy has the same economic means as some of their fellow teammates and when the entire team decides they need a certain expensive shoe rather than get a job at McDonald's (which both boys seem to believe is "beneath them," after all they ARE the stars of the basketball team), they decide to rob people at gun point in broad daylight. What a surprise when they get caught! Sheesh. The level of stupidity is a bit amazing to me.
What follows is a breakdown of who gets blamed and how each boy handles the situation, how it affects their friendship, how it affects their future prospects. Their struggle even spills over into other problems in the school that reflect back to an ugly incident a few years earlier when a student was killed at a basketball game.
I guess if students are interested in any of these topics this may be a book to recommend. In our book club, several students expressed a distaste for the ending and found much of the book rather ridiculous. However, we'd just read Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" and this book suffered by comparison.
In the story, "Black and White" are the nicknames of the two main characters, Marcus and Eddie. They've been friends for all of high school, inseparable on and off the basketball court despite racial tensions that seem to loom close to the surface in their school and community. Their nicknames relate to their respective races. Neither boy has the same economic means as some of their fellow teammates and when the entire team decides they need a certain expensive shoe rather than get a job at McDonald's (which both boys seem to believe is "beneath them," after all they ARE the stars of the basketball team), they decide to rob people at gun point in broad daylight. What a surprise when they get caught! Sheesh. The level of stupidity is a bit amazing to me.
What follows is a breakdown of who gets blamed and how each boy handles the situation, how it affects their friendship, how it affects their future prospects. Their struggle even spills over into other problems in the school that reflect back to an ugly incident a few years earlier when a student was killed at a basketball game.
I guess if students are interested in any of these topics this may be a book to recommend. In our book club, several students expressed a distaste for the ending and found much of the book rather ridiculous. However, we'd just read Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" and this book suffered by comparison.
Great novel!! Nice commentary about the realities of the injustice of mass incarceration for young adults to relate to.
What I found most intriguing about this book was that it touched on how blacks are really treated in today's society. People want to believe that racism is dead and that blacks and whites are all equal, bt if you really think about it, it's not quite true.
It's not racism, but it's merely a fact. What is the majority of people who are in state cells? Blacks and hispanics.
I really like how the author adressed this in his book, and I would like to see more authors adress more problems like that. Not just petty problems that high-class white teenagers face every day, but real problems that effect a certain type of group just because they are different in society.
It's not racism, but it's merely a fact. What is the majority of people who are in state cells? Blacks and hispanics.
I really like how the author adressed this in his book, and I would like to see more authors adress more problems like that. Not just petty problems that high-class white teenagers face every day, but real problems that effect a certain type of group just because they are different in society.