DICE by T.N. Baker

Wasaun has two loves: his beautiful girlfriend and rollin’ dice. But when he meets Tone, a dude from the same hood who has just as much game and lots of cash to back it up, the stakes grow high. Wasaun is caught in a choice between his life and his girl.

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AROUND THE WAY GIRLS 4 by Dwayne S. Joseph, LaJill Hunt, and Roy Glenn

There’s a saying that if you come from my part of town, that you’re from around the way. Around the Way Girls 4 is a look at the life of some street-smart women who think they have the world in the palm of their hands, but are about to find out that things aren’t always what they seem.

For talented artist Jovia Grant, life has gone from one extreme to the other. Being raised by a single mother living in a lavish home, her much needed break from home comes when she is accepted into a summer art program where she rediscovers old friends and meets a few new ones. Essence Bestselling Author La Jill Hunt brings the drama in Thug Passion as these two worlds collide and her family discovers she’s been learning more than art.

Once again, Dwayne S. Johnson weaves a dramatic tale of love and betrayal in All for Love. After the turmoil she’d suffered in her twenty years. Rayne is thankful for the safety and companionship given to her by her boo, Love. Unfortunately for Rayne, the drama and heartache are about to come back in her life in a major way, when she finds out she is pregnant with Quincy’s baby.

For Jada West it was All About the Money. From dancing at the best club, to becoming the city’s top Madame, whatever it took to make piles of paper, that’s what she was about. In this tale of power and money, Roy Glenn brings a different flavor to this around the way girl as Jada discovers that in the end, there is something more important than money.

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THEM by Nathan McCall

The author of the bestselling memoir Makes Me Wanna Holler presents a profound debut novel – in the tradition of Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth – that captures the dynamics of class and race in today’s urban integrated communities.

Nathan McCall’s novel Them tells a compelling story set in a downtown Atlanta neighborhood known for its main street, Auburn Avenue, which was once regarded as the “richest Negro street in the world.”

The story centers on Barlowe Reed, a single, fortysomething African American who rents a ramshackle house on Randolph Street, just a stone’s throw from the historic birth home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Barlowe, who works as a printer, otherwise passes the time reading and hanging out with other men at the corner store. He shares his home and loner existence with a streetwise, twentysomething nephew who is struggling to get his troubled life back on track.

When Sean and Sandy Gilmore, a young white couple, move in next door, Barlowe and Sandy develop a reluctant, complex friendship as they hold probing – often frustrating – conversations over the backyard fence.

Members of both households, and their neighbors as well, try to go about their business, tending to their homes and jobs. However, fear and suspicion build – and clashes ensue – with each passing day, as more and more whites move in and make changes and once familiar people and places disappear.

Using a blend of superbly developed characters in a story that captures the essence of this country’s struggles with the unsettling realities of gentrification, McCall has produced a truly great American novel.

More books by Nathan McCall

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AROUND THE WAY GIRLS 3: DOUBLE TROUBLE by Alisha Yvonne, Thomas Long, and Pat Tucker

There’s a saying that if you come from my part of town, that you’re from around the way. Around the Way Girls 3: Double Trouble is a look at the life of some street-smart women who think they know it all, but are about to get the lesson of their lives.

Sugar and Candy Cane are twenty-four-year-old identical twins from around the way. These ladies aren’t as sweet as their names imply, and people quickly come to know them as double trouble. The Cane twins have a love-hate relationship which keeps them at odds, but when all hell breaks loose, there’s no question as to whether they’ll have each others backs.

As the daughters of the infamous gangster, Timmy Barnes, it was only natural that Tamara and Tamia would follow in his footsteps. However, in their pursuit of the spoils of the fast life, a family secret is unraveled that may tear their lives apart.

Twin sisters, Paris and Porsha McCain have a score to settle. When their sister, Alex, is found brutally beaten and dead on the streets of South Central L.A. in stead of waiting for the police to catch the killer, Paris and Porsha set out to exact their own kind of justice.

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Two New Urban Fiction Books for Teens

I’m so glad that authors are starting to write urban fiction especially for teens. The urban fiction, or “street lit”, genre is a relatively new one, and one that interests me because so many of my students ask for it. Many of the gritty adult titles, though, have graphic sex, rough language, and other content that makes it difficult to defend for my middle school audience. But new street lit titles aimed specifically at teens make my job much easier — I can give students what they want — books with urban characters, dramatic problems, and authentic language — without getting into hot water.

K.C. Taylor is one such author of teen urban novels. She was kind enough to send me two of her books, Easier Without and Any Possible Outcome: A Book of Urban Tales. Both are published by GND Publishing.

Easier Without has two main characters — Cell, a homeless boy with a troubled past, and the privileged Myla, who nevertheless has problems of her own. The two teens fall for each other, but face challenges. Myla discovers that an old boyfriend is HIV positive, and that she may be infected. Cell must struggle to survive and take care of his twin sister, while dealing with his mother’s long-ago death and his incarcerated father’s criminal past. The story is fast-paced, and the writing has a feel that is very similar to that of adult urban fiction — sometimes less polished than more mainstream fiction, but always full of emotion and brimming with the drama readers crave. Though the characters deal with mature situations, the language is appropriate for teenagers. Readers will root for Myla and Cell as they struggle to overcome their problems and make their love last.

Any Possible Outcome: A Book of Urban Tales is a book of short stories. In one story, a boy regrets involving his younger brother in gang activity. In another, a new girl in school deals with middle school friendships and intrigue. Poems, instant messaging, diary entries, and lots of dialogue spice up the narration. I especially enjoyed “Minus 15″, a story from the point of view of a teenage boy describing his involvement in selling drugs and how he ended up in a correctional facility. His regrets are clear without becoming preachy.

I know both of these books will be a hit with my students, and I hope to see more titles for teens from K.C. Taylor and other writers in the future.

If you are interested in urban fiction or library service for teens, check out Miranda Doyle’s website, www.teenlibrarian.com.

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