Tyrell

Finding good books for struggling boys is always a challenge. They want to read subject matter that they can relate to, but they also need to have text that they can navigate. Coe Booth's "Tyrell" is a great compromise for readers that are finally ready to read something with some meat to it. Tyrell, a fifteen year old, is fighting to get through every day. His father is in jail, again, and his mother is unable to do much of anything to help her family. As a result of her inability/unwillingness to find a job, Tyrell, his mom,and his little brother are homeless. While they await a housing placement (an already messy process that is further complicated by his mom's welfare fraud), Tyrell needs to find a way to support his family, be a good boyfriend, and keep his little brother safe--all while just trying to be 15.
Tyrell's girlfriend, Novisha, is pretty, smart, and loves him, but is faced with many of the same challenges that Tyrell is. Life in housing projects, no matter how together it may seem causes complications for everyone involved. Throughout this novel we see Tyrell battling an adult world with almost no help. As he searches for a way to make enough money to get his family out of the system, he has to confront his relationship with Novisha, the ghost of his father, the struggles of trying to figure out who you are at 15, and the harshness of poverty in New York. My boys have really loved this book, not just because of its frankness, but because Booth really lays out the complexities of the world my boys are faced with. There is no longer just the problem of growing up too fast, suddenly the whole world is crashing down and our 15 year olds are being expected to save it. Tyrell is one of the best written boys I've met in literature in a long time.