What They Found

Starred review from August 1, 2007
Gr 9 Up-On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. Readers will find the authentic dialogue appealing, and the sometimes-humorous chapter titles offset the occasionally bleak content. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan. Though sporadic references to Myers's "145th Street: Short Stories" (Delacorte, 2000) appear in this new work, these selections stand alone. Rich in both character and setting, these urban tales combine heartbreak and hope into a vivid tableau of a community. A priority purchase for all libraries, especially those in urban settings."Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2007
Aneighborhood beauty salon is the setting for lots of the fast, funny talk in these stirring contemporary stories, which nonetheless give a grim view of being poor and black, whether on the streets of Harlem, in prison, or on the war frontin Afghanistan. Rooted in the harsh realism of widespread unemployment, drug use, and trouble (more brothers going to jail than going to college), the teens tender connections are heartbreaking. A single teenage mother loves her baby, and so does the young dad, who wishes he could support them. Some teens are college-bound, but a boy with a high-school diploma cant find work: will he get a gun? Tough gangster Burn is gentle with handicapped kids, but he cannot connect with the girl he loves. In Mama, a kid who cares for her mom, a recovering addict, and tries to get her brother to preschool turns out to be only eight years old. There are lighter moments, too; in Poets and Plumbers, Noee feels uncomfortable in Kyles apartment until she shows him how to unplug his kitchen drain. Each story stands alone, but some are connected, and readers familiar with Myers 145th Street (2000) will welcome back some characters. Hope lies in what the book title says, finding love and community.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2008
Myers's collection of intertwined short stories again illuminates the Harlem neighborhood of 145th Street; this time the stories are thematically linked by portrayals of love (more than just the romantic) ranging from slapstick to tragic. Particulars of working-class life and poverty are given thoughtful treatment here, and the vivid, bittersweet relationships are often hauntingly poignant.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)