street lit

Street Lit

	Autobiography of My Dead Brother / Walter Dean Myers Jesse pours his heart and soul into his sketchbook to make sense of life in his troubled Harlem neighborhood and the loss of a close friend.
	B-more careful : a novel / Shannon Holmes Fatherless and with an addict mother, Netta, the leader of the Pussy Pound, relies on her body and her wiles to survive the harsh streets of Baltimore, but finds there is more to life after her heartbroken lover Black swears revenge on her.
	Baby Girl / Lenora Adams When Sheree, a tough high school teen, finds herself in a difficult situation, she turns to her mother her friends, and her boyfriend, who calls her Baby Girl and treats her like she's disposable, and realizes that help is within herself.
	Bang! / Sharon Flake A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man.
	Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah Winter Santiaga, the daughter of one of Brooklyn's most powerful drug czars, uses her own weapons--including sex and an aggressive attitude--to stay on top, after her father's empire is threatened by a drug war.
	Death before dishonor / 50 Cent Achieving success with her beauty salon after a long stint in prison, Sunni despairs of finding a healthy relationship, while Trill, having served five years for a crime he did not commit, dreams of revenge and winning the lifestyle his model girlfriend craves. Sequels follow.
	Drama High / L. Divine When sixteen-year-old Jayd Jackson returns to South Bay High, she discovers that her former best friend is out to get her and her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend wants to fight, which forces Jayd to turn to Mama and her bag of tricks for help. Followed by Second Chance and Jayd’s Legacy.
	Dymond in the rough / Precious Fourteen-year-old Dymond finds herself the only one in her crew without a boyfriend, until Kyle Banks comes along and she finds herself lying to her mother in order to be with him. Part of the Platinum Teen series.
	The First Part Last / Angela Johnson Bobby's carefree teenage life changes forever when he becomes a father and must care for his adored baby daughter.
	Flyy Girl / Omar Tyree Tracey Ellison is a Germantown girl who grows into her womanhood on a roller coaster ride. Tired of being a good girl, Tracey embarks on a coming-of-age adventure that moves her from her teen years into her woman years with a lot of reckless drama in between.
	Gangsta: an urban tragedy / K’wan An assassin wants to leave his gang for a life as a writer.
	Harlem hustle / Janet McDonald Eric "Hustle" Samson, a smart and street-wise seventeen-year-old dropout from Harlem, aspires to rap stardom, a dream he naively believes is about to come true.
	Indigo Summer / Monica McKayhan When fifteen-year-old Indigo's perfect world falls apart, she turns to the one person who seems to have his head on straight--her neighbor, sixteen-year-old Marcus Carter. But now that she realizes what a great guy he is, so does someone else. Part of the Kimani Tru series.
	Little ghetto girl / Danielle Santiago Having managed to establish a thriving legitimate business by her twenty-first year, attractive Kisa Kane aspires to leave her crime-marked past behind, but when she falls in love with a powerful drug dealer, she places her lingering hopes on her new baby daughter.
	Push / Sapphire A heart wrenching story about a young girl named Precious who is sexually abused by her parents. Thanks to a teacher that outs Precious onto a path of healing, she manages to move past the trauma and reclaim her life.
	True to the game: a novel / Teri Woods When Gena, a young girl from the projects, finds her true love Quadir, a Harlem millionaire associated with the cartel, she finds herself caught up in the vicious, high stakes world of drugs and money.
	Tyrell / Coe Booth Fifteen-year-old Tyrell, who is living in a Bronx homeless shelter with his spaced-out mother and his younger brother, tries to avoid temptation so he does not end up in jail like his father.
	Who am I without him? Short stories about girls and the boys in their lives / Sharon Flake Stories about teen girls and their daily experiences growing into womanhood.
	Yo Yo Love / Daaimah S. Poole Determined to find her soulmate, bold and sassy college student Kayla Johnson encounters every hustler, freak, and sleazeball on the streets of Philadelphia until she meets Wil, a sexy man who shows her how to fight for her own independence and for love.
You can put these titles and others on hold online or at your local branch of the Oakland Public Library. Please let me know if you have any questions. Susy Moorhead smoorhead@oaklandlibrary.org (510) 597-5017