Editorial Review

"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format.Interspersed throughout his screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial. "They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment."Read more

Reviews (606)

Monster is scary, not in a great way
I found that the story was too fast paced for something as dramatic as a 16 year old boy on trial for murder.The settings changed too quickly at the beginning, and I found the plot kind of confusing.The plot though, was believable and realistic, and there was very little profanity, if any.The language was not coated with heavy accents, the closest it got was gangsta talk. The point of view was from Steve Harmon, and there was a fair share of the plot jumping around. The characters were very real, and you could really picture it in your mind.Sadly, I could not say this for much of this book.
Is He Truly A Monster?
I'm not going to say much about the text in the book except that it was well written and well thought out. The format of the book was nicely put, because it is easy to read when the words aren't crammed together on a small page, and I liked how it was written in a script format.
Amazon book review by Karen
Monster by Walter Dean Myers was an excellent book.This book was about Steve Harmon.He was accused of being part of a robbery during which Mr. Nesbit was murdered.The book really puts the reader inside Steve's mind and emotions; the reader really hopes that Steve gets off trial and is let go without any charges.
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Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. Juvenile Fiction    6. Law & Crime    7. People & Places - United States - African-American    8. Prisons    9. Self-perception    10. Social Issues - General    11. Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism    12. Social Issues - Violence    13. Social Situations - Prejudice & Racism    14. Social Situations - Violence    15. Trials (Murder)    16. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Prejudice & Racism    17. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

Cole Matthews is angry. Angry, defiant, smug--in short, a bully. Hisanger has taken him too far this time, though. After beating up a ninth-gradeclassmate to the point of brain damage, Cole is facing a prison sentence. Butthen a Tlingit Indian parole officer named Garvey enters his life, offering analternative called Circle Justice, based on Native American traditions, in whichvictim, offender, and community all work together to find a healing solution.Privately, Cole sneers at the concept, but he's no fool--if it gets him out ofprison, he'll do anything. Ultimately, Cole ends up banished for one year to aremote Alaskan island, where his arrogance sets him directly in the path of amysterious, legendary white bear. Mauled almost to death, Cole awaits his fateand begins the transition from anger to humility. Read more

Reviews (234)

Toching Spirit Bear, and Me
Cole has many problems. His dad beats him, his mom says nothing about it, so his anger towards his parents is taken out on the world, and specifically at a schoolmate, Peter. Peter tells on Cole, so Cole smashes his head into the sidewalk, causing severe damage both emotional and physical. When Cole is put into a detention center, Garvey, a man working at the detention center, tells Cole about a Tlingit Indian justice ritual called Circle Justice. Cole will do anything to get of prison. He agrees to his terms and is sentenced to a year of banishment on an island off the coast of Alaska. There he encounters a Spirit Bear. After almost being killed by it, Cole is left thinking about his life, his choices, and the healing ramifications of Circle Justice.
Touching Spirit Bear
This book is about a boy name Cole who always gets into trouble and oneday he stole from the store.The Peter told on him,and Cole beat him up and he had to choose between jail or the circle of justice.He choose the circle of justice and for the first time he will be scared.

BEST BOOK EVER!!!!
I'm in sixth grade and this was the best book I have ever read. I read it twice over the summer and I am getting readey to read it again for my book report. Thls book is on my sixth grade reading list and I have recomended et to all of my friends and all of them are reading it.This book also teaches everyone a great lesson. This is a great book and you will be up all night and read it over and over again. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anger    2. Animals - Bears    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    4. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    5. Fiction    6. Forgiveness    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Juvenile delinquents    9. People & Places - United States - Native American    10. Rehabilitation    11. Social Issues - Emotions & Feelings    12. Social Issues - Violence    13. Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Bears   

Editorial Review

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, 11-year-old Parvana has rarely been outdoors. Barred from attending school, shopping at the market, or even playing in the streets of Kabul, the heroine of Deborah Ellis's engrossing children's novel Read more

Reviews (55)

Good book about real life
This book is a very good book that puts you inside of 11 year old Parvana's shoes. It depicts the horrors of life under the taliban rule well. While it is grusome, the auther shows the horrors without too much detail, so it is safe for younger readers, though i wound not recemend it to anyone younger than 10. You see life in this war torn land from the eyes of a girl worring about her father in jail, while forced to hide her true identity so her family can survive.
Best educational book ever
this book was my chosen summer reading book.I thought that it was going to be realy bad but it wasn't it ended up realy good.I read it in three days it was sogood.The book is about Parvana the 2nd eldest in a family of 6.Her Parents are educated very wellHer mother is an author and her father taught history in a high school.But that was before the Taliban took over Afghanistan and now women are not allowed to go out of their house,So parvana's Father writes and reads letters for the family to make moeny however because of her fathers bad leg she has to go walk with him.until he gets arested.then Parvana has to dress up like a boy and cntinue her father's work until he gets out of prison.Then she meets an old school mate who is a girl and is doing the same thing she is.So they decide to go into buesiness together.The her sister got a letter saying that an old neighbor would like to marryher but the family would have to travel.Parvana has to stay back with a friend.

A Story With A Lot Of Feelings
This book is a really good that it could make you feel something. It made me feel sad and some parts ade me cry.One reason you should buy this book because this book is something ture and something that really happen. Also you should buy this book because it gives you complete information. - A.T. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Fiction - General    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    3. Children: Grades 4-6    4. Disguise    5. Fiction    6. Girls & Women    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. People & Places - Asia    9. Sex role    10. Social Issues - Violence    11. Social Situations - Violence    12. Women's rights    13. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Friendship    14. Juvenile Fiction / Girls & Women   

Reviews (1)

A Kids book about War
This is the most unusual book that I have ever bought for my children!And perhaps the most important!If you are concerned about war and what you can do to help your children understand what creates it then get this book.You will thank Dr. Webster-Doyle. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books - Young Adult    2. Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction    3. Children: Grades 3-4    4. General    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Militarism    8. Military socialization    9. Peace    10. Social Issues - Violence    11. War    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Situations / Violence   

Editorial Review

Molly Lou Melon may be tiny, clumsy, buck-toothed, and with a voice"like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor," but she doesn't mind. Hergrandmother has utmost confidence in her, and tells her at every turn to believein herself. "Sing out clear and strong and the world will cry tears of joy,"Grandma says. But Molly Lou's self-assurance is put to the test when she movesto a new town, away from her friends and beloved grandmother. During her firstweek of school, Ronald Durkin taunts Molly Lou Melon in the dull-witted butsharp-edged manner of career bullies, calling her "shrimpo" and "bucky-toothedbeaver." Our heroine barely flinches as she systematically sets out to proveherself, and Ronald Durkin ends up feeling pretty foolish.Read more

Reviews (46)

WELL DONE QUIRKY LITTLE BOOK - I LIKED IT
I like this one.It is just enough over the edge, illustration wise, to make it quite interesting.More importantly than my likeing it, is that all the kids seem to love this one.For some reason it appeals to them.The story is certainly good and teaches a wonderful lesson on a subject that bothers most kids, self-image.The author has hit this subject head on and has done a very good job of it in quite understandable style.I like the art work in this one, and feels it makes the point of the story stick.Recommend this one highly.

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon was written by, Patty Lovell and illustrated by, David Catrow.Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon is a fiction book. The main characters are Molly Lou Melon, Grandma, and Ronald Durkin.
The Illustrations are beautiful art!!
I have to say I favor a book for its illustrations over its story, as long as the story is still good!I was so impressed with David Catrow's gorgeous illustrations that I searched through all of the books he illustrated intent on buying more."King Bidgood..." is an example of my taste if that helps.
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Subjects:  1. Bullies    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children: Babies & Toddlers    4. Fiction    5. Grandmothers    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. Self-acceptance    8. Social Issues - Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance    9. Social Issues - Violence    10. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Friendship   

Editorial Review

Cameron, Carla, and Len were fascinated (for different reasons) with guns and target shooting at the Patriots' club range until the day Len brought his Kalashnikov rifle, his AR-18, and his Ruger pistol to school, and shot and killed football jock Brad Williams, and then himself. Here is yet another school shooting story that begins with bullying and ends with disaster--a type that is becoming almost a sub-genre of YA fiction. Yet Walter Dean Myers, winner of many awards for his young adult novels, brings freshness and new anguish to this familiar tale (and growing social problem) of unstable victim tormented by bullies to homicidal rage. Following the example of his own masterwork Read more

Reviews (44)

Shooter
It's a great book with suspense in every page! However it is not for kids.

Great demonstration of Mr. Myers's craft
I am waiting for Walter Dean Myers to wring a play or screenplay. I am an actor and a playwright and when I read "Shooter" just like "Monster" he crafts dialogue so effectively that it carries the story even without the narrative. Each character has a specific and active voice. Even the psychologists and reporters who merely record or probe information. But it's the diary of the Shooter at the end where you will be blown away by how Myers is able to get inside the mind of a disturbed, misunderstood and lonely teenager. This book is so incredible that whenever I lend it to one of my students, I don't get it back.

Gun
This book Shooter is about Carmeron Porter. Carmeron is a seventeen year old African American. He goes to school at Madison High School in Harrison County. In the book Carmeron is being interviewed. He gets interviewed five times with five different people. The reason he is being interviewed is because his friend Len killed himself in school. The statement fact is: a seventeen-year-old White male found dead in the aftermath of a shooting incident at Madison High School in Harrison County. The conclusion: Death by self- inflicted wound.
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Subjects:  1. Children's Books/All Ages    2. Children: Grades 2-3    3. Emotional problems    4. Family problems    5. Fiction    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. School violence    8. Social Issues - Adolescence    9. Social Issues - Suicide    10. Social Issues - Violence    11. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Violence   

Reviews (4)

An important teen read with beautiful black and white illustrations
Teenager Jesse is writing the autobiography of his childhood friend and "blood brother" Rise, in a series of sketches, portraits, and comic strips from their times together.Rise is a little older than Jesse and is starting to be pulled in by the allure of the protection of gangs and the easy money of drugs.His biographer, Jesse, is confused by the change in his friend, and by Rise's attempts to turn the local boys' club into a street gang at war with neighborhood rivals.Given the title of the novel, one can only guess what the outcome of Rise's foray into drugs, guns, crime, and the power struggle is going to be.
The comic of Spodi Roti and Wise was brilliant.
This was an enthralling read. I liked the depth of this book and it painted a realistic portrait of poverty and gang life. The best part of this book was the incorporation of the comics and illustrations into the plot. The comic of Spodi Roti and Wise was brilliant. I also liked how most of the main characters in this book were not gang members or looking to be involved in gangs but simply wanted to survive long enough to explore their talents in music and artistry. It's nice to have a book about poverty and class that doesn't stereotype but gives a more realistic and in-depth picture.

An in-your-face tale of growing up and getting by in the inner-city
To pick up a book written by Walter Dean Myers is to expect nothing less than literary greatness. Among his many accolades, MONSTER was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, a National Book Award Finalist, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. He has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults and has penned over 70 award-winning books intended for a wide age range of readers, from picture books to teen novels. His son, Christopher Myers, is a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor recipient, and has illustrated a number of breathtaking books for young readers, including his solo effort entitled BLACK CAT.
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Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Drive-by shootings    5. Fiction    6. Friendship    7. Gangs    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. People & Places - United States - African-American    10. Social Issues - Death & Dying    11. Social Issues - Drugs, Alcohol, & Substance Abuse    12. Social Issues - Violence    13. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse   

Editorial Review

A cautionary Cold War tale (first told by Dr. Seuss back in 1984), Read more

Reviews (35)

Open a Book and Open a Mind
With enchanting rhyme and whimsical illustrations, Dr. Suess delivers a children's book with lots to consider.The butter side up Yooks and the butter side down Zooks are a parody of the cold war, and the crescendo builds as the trivial evolves into a weapons race, culminating with a stalemate with each side having a "Big Boy Boomeroo".The younger readers will be enchanted by the rhythm of the tale and the lesson that grandpa imparts will be better understood by the older readers.Actually, a wonderful book for all ages.Pair this book with THE LORAX (a once "banned" Suess book!) and you'll have my favorite baby shower gift.

Awesome!
This book is wonderful for teaching about getting along with others who are different from you.

A Butter Battle
The loved author, Dr.Suess tries to illustrate a war between two sides who never quit. The conflict, the side you put your BUTTER ON YOUR BREAD! That is what makes the story wacky and so Dr.Suess. Trying to out do each other, they always are at neck and neck. With big inventions, the two sides come at a standstill, daring each other to make their move. The book relates to how an actual war starts and how it keeps growing as it gets fed violence and non-sensed kinds of unsolved problems. This book was great with all the wacky coined language. I am a Dr.suess fan who enjoys the kind of books he creates. The books show what," The Dr.Suess" is trying to state and explain. Maybe, the world of Dr.Suess, is maybe, our world too. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8 - Fiction - General    2. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    3. Children's stories, American    4. Children: Grades 2-3    5. Fiction    6. Readers - Beginner    7. Social Issues - Violence    8. Social Situations - Violence    9. Stories in rhyme    10. War    11. English literature: essays, letters & other non-fiction prose works    12. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Violence   

Reviews (30)

It might save a child from a life behind bars
It's aimed at junior and senior high school kids to keep them out of gangs. I'm not going to go into my feelings toward this guy or the death penalty or his execution. As far as the merits of this book, I think it might get some kids to think. Williams does a good job of describing prison life. For some kids it might be the smells, others the rules or something simple like never being able to have a soda again. But if he can help one kid stay out of prison he has done something good with his life. Does it make up for the bad? I'll leave that up to God, karma, whatever. It's not for me to decide.
A child's book
I guess I should have read the reviews before purchasing this book.
Glenn's Review
Stanley Tookie Williams is the main character in this book. He is now in prison on San Quentin's Death row because he was found guilty of killing 4 people in 2 robberies. He wrote this book from death row. I believe that if Tookie really was guilty of this heinous crime that he would have confessed to doing this, because he is a real man and as a real man, you do a lot of things differently. Tookie doesn't really change throughout the whole book, but he does talk about redemption.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography - General    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 3-4    4. Juvenile Nonfiction    5. Juvenile literature    6. Law & Crime    7. Prisoners    8. Prisons    9. Social Issues - Violence    10. United States    11. Crime & violence    12. Historical figures    13. Juvenile Nonfiction / Law & Crime    14. Personal awareness: safety matters    15. The law, legal issues   

Editorial Review

High school sophomores Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor have had enough.Day in and day out, for more than two years, they have been harassed, beaten up,and cursed out by most of the jocks at Middleton High--especially by footballplayer Sam Flach. Armed with guns they've stolen from a neighbor's collection,Gary and Brendan storm a school dance, booby trap all the doors with homemadebombs, and prepare to turn their high school caste system upside down with aviolent show of force. When it's all over, Sam Flach is alive (but without anyhope of a future football career), Gary has killed himself, and Brendan is in acoma, after being beaten almost to death by other students who managed to disarmhim. Could this tragedy have been prevented? Who, if anyone, is to blame?Read more

Reviews (116)

Was this really fiction?
At times it was difficult to tell if this book was fiction.The detail that was given was beyond belief and the characters seemed to each have their own voice.The style is almost that of a news report you would see on television, where there are numerous people being interviewed at different times and the camera cuts from person to person to get all of their statements.Each paragraph was a new person's view on the situation and the instances that occurred.Little pieces of letters were included to have the main characters be able to be part of the story but the story was told through the eyes of others.Onlookers that witnessed and partook in many of these activities expressed the situations that occurred the night of the dance and of the years leading up to it.Each character had their own tone and there was never an instance in which you thought the person speaking was the same as another.The idea of bullying and school shootings were the main ideas for this book.The pain that you felt from the letters that the boys had written could make you feel how much they had been hurt.Bullying is a large factor in schools that is slowly tearing away at other students and will continue to do so until actions are taken by the small minorities, such as in this book.

This should be an adult book only!!!
My middle school student found this book in his library, wow.I am in the process of trying to get it pulled off ALL the shelves in the school district.Crimes are committed more often by copy cats and we certainly do not need another school shooting in the United States.It does not answer any students questions as to why school shootings happen I am not even sure adults can figure out all the reasons why.
Give a Boy a Gun
Give A Boy A Gun
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    3. Fiction    4. High schools    5. Juvenile Fiction    6. School shootings    7. Schools    8. Social Issues - Adolescence    9. Social Issues - Physical & Emotional Abuse    10. Social Issues - Violence    11. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Violence    12. Modern fiction   

Reviews (2)

A Violent Book About Anti-Violence...
While this book has good intentions, I found it to be the most violent book about anti-violence that I could imagine.The text is not so bad, but the illustrations gave me chills.I thought it couldn't get any worse (guns, knives, etc.), when I came to a page where a little boy was lying in a pool of blood hugging a teddy bear.In my opinion, this is not the kind of book that should be viewed by any child, let alone a child who needs a book about anti-violence.

Great
This 60-page picture book contains simple language easily read by first and second graders (on a par with Dr. Suess), to teach children why people are violent, and how they can avoid trouble. It is best suited for children up to about 10 or 11.Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Juvenile Nonfiction    4. Juvenile literature    5. Prevention    6. Social Issues - Violence    7. Violence    8. Violence in children   

Reviews (5)

Excellent!!
Although Holme's work is in the form of a children's book, it can be used in a variety of settings for counselors.I have shared this book with my students at the university level and they have used Holmes's work in a variety of school counseling settings.It is very helpful in that it does not adhere to a specific type of trauma or violence.Excellent!

Excellent, highly recommended!
I just can't get over how wonderful this book is. It's perfectly stated so that the child reading it or being read to can understand that there are others out there that feel the same way. The information in the back of the book to parents and caregivers is superb. I'm going to purchase a copy for a few of my friends, and for my sons school. Our family and community has had two serious tragedies in three months, and this book helped my son immensely, having lost his older brother a few months ago. This book is wonderful and simply stated.

PTSD: The Children's Chair - recognizing their limits
Emotional Toxic Shock Syndrome, or PTSD, thought by many to exist only in situations where extreme conditions cause children to fall victim to the illness characterized by its now well defined symptoms, is now a nearly universal phenomenon that goes largely unrecognized in its many variations. The interests of children would be best served by making the connection between violence, neglect and trauma that forms the foundation of PTSD, the perpetual kind, that undermines adult potential and leaves its victims vulnerable to and the most probable outcome of any and all "emotional overload" setbacks in childhood we tend to ignore or dismiss as unfortunate influences. PTSD, rarely the first inquiry (and rarely examined) as the most probable diagnosis of children caught in domestic conflict, or those troubled, or in trouble, is a constant and continuous affliction in modern society where family conflict is "nearly presumed" as ordinary occurrences. Diagnosed with a myriad of "other" less likely performance-undermining illnesses, it is far easier to medicate, counsel, and address anything but the real source of their problems, the desperate situations out of which their troubles come. Medication, inappropriate ridicule or punishment and inadequate counseling insures circuitous examination that prevents the real diagnosis and the real resolution of their problems, often leaving us wondering why they "cannot be reached," or foolishly justifying the compounding of social and educational dysfunction laid upon them, and further crippling them for life ignoring all forms of social conscience due to our own neglect and ignorance. Failing to recognize that orphans, or orphan-like children are not likely to receive the remedial steps for recovery, and that adoptees are actually former orphans with unaddressed impact can only be detrimental to wellness. Continuing conflict among the almost-orphaned is little better. All reside in varying states and levels of PTSD which do not disappear with age but become buried within the makeup of the individual further complicating the healing and health of those who suffer, or once suffered the conditions that caused it. Recognizing the realities and necessities of treatment should be a first concern and the first step in diagnosis for any child, or any adult. Awareness is always the key to understanding how illness becomes health in the non-physical sciences, a.k.a., the world of emotional, mental and cognitive health. More discussion is needed, not silence. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 1-2    3. Emotional problems    4. Emotions    5. Fiction    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Social Issues - Emotions & Feelings    8. Social Issues - Violence    9. Fiction dealing with specific issues   

Reviews (118)

If you can look past the agenda . . .
I read Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes when I was taking a young adult literature class in college.I'd just finished reading Chinese Handcuffs, also by Crutcher, and even though I'm not interested in sports at all, I really enjoyed it.Feeling in the mood for some more angst, but wary of the emphasis on sports in a lot of his books, I decided swimming would be an interesting sport to read about and picked up Staying Fat.It wasn't bad.In fact, it was very similar to other books of Crutcher's I've read in that it deals with sports and angst.
Two Teen's Couragous Battles Because ofBeing VeryDifferent.
When I began the book, I felt like it was going to be just some teen complaining because life isn't perfect.However, Eric was couragous and well beyond his years because he accepted himself completely.Beyond the teasing and tormenting that his peers gave him was a growing deep confidence in himself.
Can I get an extra star?
I'm an ELA teacher. This is one of my favorite YA novels. After you get comfortable with the main character and hisrelationship with Sarah Byrnes, it's impossible to put this book down. The characters are new/strange and well defined.The issues are a bit heavy as is the language, so I'd keep it at 14 or older.
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Subjects:  1. Child abuse    2. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. Friendship    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. Schools    8. Social Issues - Friendship    9. Social Issues - Physical & Emotional Abuse    10. Social Issues - Violence    11. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Friendship   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (30)

BAD
BADCharlotte Cordell
A Good Read
This book is great.
Bad
Bad
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    3. Fiction    4. Juvenile Fiction    5. Juvenile delinquency    6. Law & Crime    7. Social Issues - General    8. Social Issues - Violence   

Reviews (33)

Drive-By
They killed his brother Jimmy, and now they are out searching for him. At the beginning of this book, as Tito, Mira, and Jimmy were coming from a little girl's birthday party and all of a sudden, as they are walking; a car comes past them and shoots Jimmy. Mira and Tito think that he is playing a joke on him until they notice that he is bleeding and they see that the car drove off. When the police come to the seen they tell Mira and Tito that the shooting was gang related. Tito disagrees with them because he didn't know that his brother was apart of the gang. Soon after the shooting the family has to relocate to the next door neighbors house because of the lack of money for the bills and because people had been breaking inside their house and writing graffiti on the walls and shooting outside of the door.One night while Mira was sleeping Tito snuck out because he heard noises outside and when he got out there it was his old friend Gus. So he went with Gus to the nearby burger place because he had offered to buy him some food, and sitting there, on the car that was using to kill his brother, were the three men that killed his brother. That was when Tito realized that his old friend was actually apart of the people who killed Jimmy and they tell him that Jimmy was their "Ace Man" and that if Tito didn't want to end up like his brother, then he has to give them what Jimmy owed them. That is also when Tito realizes that his brother really was a gang member and then Tito went in search for what they owed them because he didn't want to be killed too So after that he goes to the most logical place that he could think of and looked under the house and found a suitcase full of money and a note to him from his brother saying that " ...if Tito found this then he was probably dead" and how gangbanging is fun at first then so you end up dying. So in the end Tito sets them up and gets them caught by the police trying to find the money that is under the house. I would recommend this book to teenagers who want a short and interesting book to read. It is good if you are the type of person who wants to read a murder-mystery type book with a decent plotline.
Not a very good book
Drive By, in my personal opinion, is not a very good book. This book is okay if you want a short book without much plot. First of all it was very short with not much room for plot or detail of the story. Second it all seemed to run together like one big sentence. And finally I felt I didn't get to know the characters they were just there.