Street Pharm
by Alison Van Diepen
2006

Tyrone Johnson is the drug dealing king of Brooklyn. And he's a 17 year old high school student. He inherited his convict father's business, partner, and reputation. Taking his philosophy from the Art of War, Ty thinks he's in control of his destiny.

Kicked out of his last high school, Tyrone finds himself trying to keep his rep a secret from a girl at his new school. When a new dealer tries to get in on his turf, Ty struggles to save his girl and family from the violence that is part of his life, while also trying to keep it secret.

The author description left a bad taste in my life before I started the book, referencing her three and a half years working in "one of New York City's most dangerous high schools". The book is over the top in a lot of ways, including Tyrone's quick attempt to redeem himself. Despite these misgivings, I am fairly confident that this would be very popular with teen readers.

Feathers
by Jacqueline Woodson
2007

Frannie's sixth grade class changes when "Jesus boy" comes from across the highway and becomes the only white boy in her class. Frannie's been fixated on the idea of hope after reading an Emily Dickinson poem in class, and somehow Jesus boy gets tied into this ideal. Maintaining this hope sometimes is difficult as Frannie reflects on the way that girls treat her deaf brother, and as she thinks about her mother's miscarriages.

Woodson's writing is fine as always, although not a whole lot happens in this skinnyish chapter book. It's kind of a peculiar scene, on the one side of a 1970s Brooklyn highway, but the author sets it well. While the school is all black kids, a range of social classes are represented and the growing consciousness of the kids about this fact is well represented. There is also significant musing on religious themes, but that's not surprising with a character de facto named Jesus boy. A nice book but not so tightly gripping as Woodson's more prominent work.