|
| |
Brotherhood
by Janet McDonald
A young boy who is trying to find his true identity.
“Brotherhood” written by Janet McDonald tells a story about a 16-year-old boy who is caught in a dilemma of finding his true self. He has to choose between being the smart boy at a prestigious school and being the “homeboy” in his Harlem neighborhood.
Nate Whitely is attending a prestigious prep school in upstate New York. There, he lives a completely different lifestyle than the one he lives at home. In school, he befriends prep students such as Spencer Adams and Willa Matthews who have wealthy families and fancy cars. Then at home, he isn’t as rich as his prep friends, but he can relate more to his childhood friend Eric Samson, known as Hustle who stays into trouble and is living in poverty.
At the beginning, he has everything under control. He does well academically and has a bright future ahead of him. Then, in his neighborhood, he still manages to fit in with his street-smart friends. That’s when complications from one life collides with the other leaving Nate with a choice. Can he is really be the prep boy that everyone sees in school or can he be that street-smart boy that is loyal to the brotherhood? Problems starts to rise when his friend Hustle and his older brother, Eli, get into deep trouble and may even drag Nate along with them. Nate tries to help both and want them to turn their lives around. However, will Nate be able to do all this without jeopardizing everything he has accomplished?
This novel is great for young teens who are facing an identity crisis. It is normal to feel like you have to act one way to please a group of people and then act another way to please the other group. McDonald does a great job in portraying Nate as the teen who wants to do right, but also wants to help his friends that are going down the wrong paths.
The plot is very predictable and at the end of the novel, it leaves the reader with questions. However, the characters are what makes the novel an enjoyable read. “Brotherhood” is a good book for the youth to read.
Title: Brotherhood
Author: Janet McDonald
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 9780374309954
Review written by: Lawanda Johnson
Reviewer's Rating:6.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
