Homeboyz (Hoopster) - Hardcover

Sitomer, Alan Lawrence

4.34

2,346 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1423100301 ISBN 13: 9781423100300

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007

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When Teddy Anderson’s little sister Tina is gunned down randomly in a drive-by shooting, the gangstas who rule the streets in the Anderson family’s rapidly deteriorating neighborhood dismiss the incident as just another case of RP, RT wrong place, wrong time. According to gangsta logic, Tina doesn’t even count as a statistic.
Teddy’s family is devastated. Mrs. Anderson sinks into deep depression while Pops struggles to run both the household and his declining laundry business. The Andersons are shocked still further when Teddy is arrested and thrown in prison for attempted homicide after his elaborately laid plans for revenge against his sister’s killer are foiled by the cops.
Teddy soon finds himself out of prison on house arrest, and in the capable hands of Officer Mariana Diaz, the smart, tough probation officer assigned to oversee his endless hours of community service. As part of the innovative rehabilitation program Diaz runs, Teddy is assigned to tutor Micah, a twelve-year-old orphan and would-be gansta.
As Teddy goes through the motions of complying with the terms of his probation, Diaz has no idea that he is using his genius-level computer hacker skills to plot his final vengeance and to defraud the state education system of hundreds of thousands of dollars. But even though Teddy thinks he knows it all, he fails to see how Micah’s desperate need for love and trust just might have the power not only to pierce all Teddy’s defenses, but to save his family.

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About the Author:

Alan Lawrence Sitomer is an English teacher in an inner-city school inLos Angeles. He was selected Teacher of the Year in the state of California in 2003 and 2005. He is the author ofThe Hoopster,Hip-Hop High School, andHip-hop Poetry and the Classics.

From Booklist:

In this decidedly unsubtle sequel to Hip-Hop High School (Hyperion, 2006), sullen computer wiz Teddy sets out for revenge after gangbangers gun down his sister, Tina, in a drive-by shooting. After an up close encounter with the horrors of California's juvenile justice system in the wake of a failed first try, he's sentenced to a mentoring program for at-risk youth that forcibly hooks him up with hot but hard-nosed parole officer Mariana and wild, foulmouthed preteen Micah. Sitomer frequently breaks away from the story for clunky minilectures: "The lack of money, Teddy knew, kept thousands and thousands of inner-city kids like Micah from getting the educational services they needed." And Micah's instant reform is just one of several strands of blatant wish-fulfillment. Still, the tale's violent, rough-hewn plot and street-inflected language supply sufficient intensity to carry the heavy agenda. By the end, Teddy is no more likeable, but at least he's slightly more socialized. Peters, John

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