Street Lit

Teens
Book Cover Title
Image of 16 on the block book cover 16 on the block
Babygirl Daniels
When she is expected to pay back her sister's old debt, sixteen-year-old Summer must take to the streets, learning hard, fast lessons about survival, loyalty, and love.
Image of A girl like me book cover A girl like me
Ni-Ni Simone
When a radio contest puts her in close contact with sexy singer Haneef, sixteen-year-old Elite, who has a crack-addicted mother and is secretly raising her siblings on her own, gets the chance to make her dreams come true.
Image of Chameleon book cover Chameleon
Charles R. Smith, Jr.
The summer before starting high school in inner-city Los Angeles, fourteen-year-old Shawn grapples with his first experience of love, the complicated bonds of friends and family, and the reality of street gang violence.
Image of Choosing sides book cover Choosing sides
Treasure Hernandez
Instead of following his dreams of NBA superstardom, Malek Johnson heads for the 'hood to save his girlfriend Sunshine from a life of prostitution, and together they try to escape the harsh street life before it is too late.
Image of Death before dishonor book cover 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.
Image of The diamond district book cover The diamond district
50 Cent and Derrick R. Pledger
Set in the live-and-die world of the streets, where a select few struggle to survive the powerful and violent forces of their neighborhoods.
Image of Dice book cover Dice
T.N. Baker
When hustler Wasuan Wells is challenged by a powerful man from the same hood, he must choose between paying up, taking his last breath, or sacrificing his girl, who soon finds herself in the middle of a dangerous love triangle.
Image of Dope sick book cover Dope sick
Walter Dean Myers
Seeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy "Lil J" Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a weird man who shows different turning points in Lil J's life when he could have made better choices.
Image of Fast forward book cover Fast forward
Celeste O. Norfleet
When she is kicked out of private school and sent to the local public school, Kenisha Lewis makes new friends and enemies and moves way too fast with a guy who might be mixed up in something serious.
Image of Fast life book cover Fast life
Cassandra Carter
When her single mother is offered a job in the Caribbean away from her Chicago neighborhood where drugs, gang violence, and fast money rule, sixteen-year-old Kyra finally realizes that there is more to life than Gucci, Prada and "ghetto-fabulous bling."
Image of Grace after midnight book cover Grace after midnight
Felicia Pearson
An actress best known for her portrayal of Snoop on HBO's The Wire traces her disadvantaged life, from her foster-care upbringing in violent east Baltimore and stint in prison for killing a woman in self-defense to the murder of her drug-dealer mentor and her discovery at a nightclub.
Image of Harlem heat book cover Harlem heat
50 cent and Mark Anthony
Endeavoring to retain her fast-money lifestyle, former drug gang member Roxy masterminds a successful Harlem-based gun-trafficking ring with the assistance of her eighteen-year-old stripper daughter, an effort that pits them against dangerous rivals and eventually forces them to run from the law.
Image of Homeboyz book cover Homeboyz
Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Seventeen-year-old Teddy Anderson, who is known on the streets as T-Bear, decides to seek revenge on the person responsible for his little sister's death, which was caused by a stray bullet from a semiautomatic handgun.
Image of Hot girl book cover Hot girl
Dream Jordan
Kate, a fourteen-year-old Brooklyn girl and former gang member, risks losing her first good foster family when she adopts the risqué ways of her flirtatious new friend, Naleejah.
Image of Hotlanta book cover Hotlanta
Denene Millner
Living a privileged life in Atlanta, wealthy and beautiful African American twin sisters, Sydney and Lauren, must deal with family secrets and scandal when their father is released from prison.
Image of If I grow up book cover If I grow up
Todd Strasser
Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly forced into the gang world by circumstances beyond his control.
Image of Joseph book cover Joseph
Shelia P. Moses
Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother move from one homeless shelter to another.
Image of Keysha's drama book cover Keysha's drama
Earl Sewell
Sent to live the wealthy father she has never known, street-smart sixteen-year-old Keysha Kendall, bitter about her troubled childhood, refuses to forget--or let anyone else forget--where she came from as she struggles to belong.
Image of Midnight: a gangster love story book cover Midnight: a gangster love story
Sister Souljah
Sent to America with his mother when his father's powerful empire is attacked, underworld lieutenant Midnight draws on his African intelligence and Muslim mindset to protect those he loves and reclaim his wealth and way of life. By the author of The Coldest Winter Ever.
Image of Nikki Turner presents Street chronicles: Christmas in the hood book cover Nikki Turner presents Street chronicles: Christmas in the hood
A special holiday anthology featuring the contributions of popular street lit authors.
Image of Rucker Park setup book cover Rucker Park setup
Paul Volponi
While playing in a crucial basketball game on the very court where his best friend was murdered, Mackey tries to come to terms with his own part in that murder and decide whether to maintain his silence or tell J.R.'s father and the police what really happened.
Image of Sentences: the life of M.F. Grimm book cover Sentences: the life of M.F. Grimm
Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly
In a brutally honest graphic novel memoir, an underground hip-hop icon shares the story of his life in the game--from the first time he picked up a microphone at a block party to the day he lost the use of his legs to gang violence.
Image of The ski mask way book cover The ski mask way
50 Cent and K. Elliott
Hoping to start his life over after his prison release, ladies' man Seven finds himself tempted by the fast money of the drug trade when his day job fails to provide his desired lifestyle, a circumstance for which he teams up with a fellow ex-con for a high-stakes operation.