After Tupac & D Foster

Starred review from December 10, 2007
As she did in Feathers
with the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Woodson here invokes the music of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, whose songs address the inequalities confronting many African-Americans. In 1994, the anonymous narrator is 11, and Tupac has been shot. Everyone in her safe Queens neighborhood is listening to his music and talking about him, even though the world he sings about seems remote to her. Meanwhile D, a foster child, meets the narrator and her best friend, Neeka, while roaming around the city by herself (“She’s like from another planet. The Planet of the Free,” Neeka later remarks). They become close, calling themselves Three the Hard Way, and Tupac’s music becomes a soundtrack for the two years they spend together. Early on, when Tupac sings, ''Brenda’s Got a Baby,’’ about a girl putting her baby in a trash can, D explains, ''He sings about the things that I’m living,’’ and Neeka and the narrator become aware of all the ''stuff we ain’t gonna know ,’’ who never does tell them where she lives or who her mother is. The story ends in 1996 with Tupac’s untimely death and the reappearance of D’s mother, who takes D with her, out of roaming range. Woodson delicately unfolds issues about race and less obvious forms of oppression as the narrator becomes aware of them; occasionally, the plot feels manipulated toward that purpose. Even so, the subtlety and depth with which the author conveys the girls’ relationships lend this novel exceptional vividness and staying power. Ages 12-up.

Starred review from April 1, 2008
Gr 6-10-D Foster, Neeka, and an unnamed narrator grow from being 11 to 13 with Tupac Shakur's music, shootings, and legal troubles as the backdrop. Neeka and the narrator have lived on the same block forever and are like sisters, but foster child D shows up during the summer of 1994, while she is out "roaming." D immediately finds a place in the heart of the other girls, and the "Three the Hard Way" bond over their love of Tupac's music. It seems especially relevant to D, who sees truth in his lyrics, having experienced the hard life herself in group homes and with multiple foster families. Woodson's spare, poetic, language and realistic Queens, NY, street vernacular reveal a time and a relationship, each chapter a vignette depicting an event in the lives of the girls and evoking mood more than telling a story. In this urban setting, there are, refreshingly, caring adults and children playing on the street instead of drug dealers on every corner. Readers are right on the block with bossy mothers, rope-jumping girls, and chess-playing elders. With Tupac's name and picture on the cover, this slim volume will immediately appeal to teens, and the emotions and high-quality writing make it a book well worth recommending. By the end, readers realize that, along with the girls, they don't really know D at all. As she says, "I came on this street and y'all became my friends. That's the D puzzle." And readers will find it a puzzle well worth their time."Kelly Vikstrom, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2008
The summer before D Fosters real mama came and took her away, Tupac wasnt dead yet. From this first line in her quiet, powerful novel, Woodson cycles backward through the events that lead to dual tragedies: a friends departure and a heros death. In a close-knit African American neighborhood in Queens, New York, the unnamed narrator lives across fromher best friend, Neeka. Then D Foster wanders onto the block, and the three 11-year-old girls quickly become inseparable. Because readers know from the start where the plot is headed, the characters and the community form the focus here. A subplot about Neekas older brother, a gay man serving prison time after being framed for a hate crime, sometimes threatens to overwhelm the girls story. But Woodson balances theplotlines with subtle details, authentic language, and rich development. Beautifully capturing the girls passage from childhood to adolescence, this is a memorable, affectingnovel about the sustaining power of love and friendship and each girls developing faith in her own Big Purpose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)