A review by sde
Upstate by Kalisha Buckhanon
3.0
Decent story told in the form of letters. It was written almost 15 years ago, and it shows in terms of some of the language and the atmosphere in Harlem, which has recently become a very expensive gentrifying neighborhood. Also the ease of Natasha getting into University of Chicago with a mediocre SAT score!
This was not classified as YA in our library, but I think it would make a great book for a high school English class, especially a non-honors class at the urban school my kids attend. It is short and fairly easy to read, but lots of discussion points, such as how hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow when everyone around you is not, the difficulty of maintaining relationships and getting use to the outside world when you are in jail, the slow separating Natasha from her neighborhood once she began to experience more middle class things, domestic abuse. . . . A lot is packed into this short book in a way teens could relate to.
This was not classified as YA in our library, but I think it would make a great book for a high school English class, especially a non-honors class at the urban school my kids attend. It is short and fairly easy to read, but lots of discussion points, such as how hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow when everyone around you is not, the difficulty of maintaining relationships and getting use to the outside world when you are in jail, the slow separating Natasha from her neighborhood once she began to experience more middle class things, domestic abuse. . . . A lot is packed into this short book in a way teens could relate to.