Scan barcode
danalynn1114's review
This is a great book that really shows the affects of gang violence...and how violence just leads to more damage. Very we'll written with developed characters.
nutti72's review
4.0
This is the final book in Sitomer's Anderson family saga. It deals with the futures of Tina & Teddy.
evamadera1's review
2.0
When this book started, and even as it progressed, I harbored a lot of hope for this book. I picked it up because I had given it as an option to my advanced ELA middle school students for their next project and the majority of my class chose this book. I had not read it, however. Some might be put off by the level of highly inappropriate/dirty language throughout the book and many of the "adult" topics. However, those two things are not what caused me to lower my rating of the book. Throughout the book, I analyzed the development of the main character, Teddy, since that is the prompt my seventh graders are using to write their literary analysis essay on the book of their choosing. I kept hoping as I read, that I would see some changes in Teddy that would result in significant growth, in him learning an actual lesson. However, Teddy never seemed to change. He never seemed to learn any lesson. I never understood his motivation for creating the "Type II special services account." That account, although mentioned frequently throughout the book, came in handy for Sitomer at the end of the book which gave it a deus ex machina feel even though the account had been mentioned early on in the book.
Sitomer gives the book a heartwarming ending for most of the characters, an ending that I suppose he hopes will cause the readers to overlook the lack of growth in his main character.
I do not recommend this book at all.
Sitomer gives the book a heartwarming ending for most of the characters, an ending that I suppose he hopes will cause the readers to overlook the lack of growth in his main character.
I do not recommend this book at all.
dblearon's review
4.0
I really liked this book. Yes it is another book about teens and gangs, but it draws in family and the perspective of a teen who knows why kids join gangs but isn't in one. I finally got a chance to read it because it was always off my shelf and in the hands of the kids this year! Alan Lawrence Sitomer's other two books Hip Hop School and Hoopster are also about the same family as Homeboyz.
martha_schwalbe's review
3.0
I think I need to talk to students about this book since it was nominated to NYRA by students. I liked the story and loved the idea but I'm not sure it is really believable. Do students like the fact that the issues raised are resolved? If this is the reason students like the book so much, then I have to wonder how the students resolve their images with the reality they want to create. Their potential is great but the presentation is lacking. The overall story did not give me pause to ponder this or that but I did enjoy a mental trip back to LA.
More...