Team Seven

April 7, 2014
In his debut novel, Burke tells the coming of age story of Andre Battel, an African American boy growing up in a small town near South Boston. Andre's story is told through slice-of-life vignettes from the perspective of the protagonist and his addict father, Eddy. With each chapter, Andre's life gets more layered, showing his troubled relationship with his abusive father, his religious clashes with his mother, his conflicted feelings about his sister, and his "player" attitude with girls. In a pivotal episode, we see Andre begin a downward spiral as he becomes the seventh member of the Squad Six gang, altering the gang's name and his life. The writing is rich with street vernacular, adding authenticity and depth to Andre's inner and outer worlds. Burke is brilliantly coy in his portrayal of Eddy, whose narration embodies the emotional maturity of a father with the reliability of an addict. The plot builds toward a climax typical for a story about two feuding drug gangs, but Burke chooses contemplation over action in his execution and as a result offers a moving glimpse into the life choices of one inner city boy. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick & Williams

Starred review from March 15, 2014
A wonderful debut novel that moves with the rhythm of the streets. Andre Battel's Jamaican grandfather calls him "champion," after the winner of a TV show they watch every morning over breakfast. Pa-Paw teaches him to cook eggs and tries to keep him on the level. That's a tough goal for a 10-year-old whose father smokes weed to fuel his fantasies of being a reggae drummer. The streets of Milton, Mass., come alive in these pages, thumping with music and the smell of burning blunts. Andre dribbles through the crowds on the corners and past the girls showing their stuff at school, on his way up the basketball ladder as a winner, a champion. But there's much that's beyond his control. His father disappears for months at a time. School becomes only a measure of his powerlessness as he questions authority and its consequences. He starts running errands for Team Seven, the local pot-selling gang he joins at age 11, making the "munchies run" for the older guys. He earns money for these errands and learns what is cool and what is not in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone's business. Andre narrates most of the book in the first person, and as he ages, the rhythm of his speech gains steam and he speaks more and more the street code of Team Seven. He graduates to dealing drugs and smoking his product for a continuous buzz. Burke's words meld with Andre's progression into hell until "the dark cloud over my head exploded, it was like the perfect storm and felt like watching a nurse jab a needle into my arm." The deluge is a shooting that can make or break this young man's life. Burke crafts a street-smart tale of the possibilities and temptations of growing up. There is power in his words, and the tale moves like a locomotive right to the end.

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April 15, 2014
This coming-of-age novel marks the promising debut of African American author Burke, a product of the Boston suburb Milton, Susquehanna University, and the Iowa Writers Workshop. We first meet man-child Andre Battel as an eight-year-old at home with his mom, Ruby; an often absent dad; and Ruby's solid and quite wonderfully portrayed Jamaican parents, Papa and Nana Tanks. A local street gang, Squad Six, and its charismatic leader, Reggie Graham, tempt young Dre, but Ruby continually reminds her son that he is a cut above the rest. He is, among other things, an apparently gifted basketball player (like the author), but, like his father, he gets into weed and, though he escapes it, is involved in a related tragedy befalling two friends. He is maturing and acquiring self-awareness as the novel ends, and readers will hope he achieves his promise. To whatever degree the novel is autobiographical, Burke is well on the way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2013

Teenaged Andre Battel, from a Jamaican family that has settled in downbeat Milton, MA, finds himself by playing basketball but then loses himself by dealing drugs. Burke hails from Milton but was able to attend prep school and Susquehanna University as a star athlete, then wrecked his knee and turned to writing. The MacArthur Fellowship says it all.

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