Author: David Barclay Moore
Year Published: 2017
Genre: YA fiction
Pages: 288
Rating: 4 out of 5
Location (my 2018 Google Reading map): USA (NY)
FTC Disclosure: I bought this book with my own money
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): It all started with two garbage bags full of Legos. Or no, maybe it started with the two thugs following Lolly down 125th that night. Or maybe it was Jermaine's dying. Or that fight they had before 'Maine got shot.
Yeah, probably it was that.
Lolly's having a hard time knowing how to be without his older brother around. Seems like he's either sad or mad. The thing that helps most is building. His mom's girlfriend gave him two huge bags of Legos, and Lolly's working on an epic city--a project so big it outgrows his apartment. But there are dangers outside. Older guys who harass Lolly and then jump him and his friend Vega.
What would Jermaine want him to do? Get with a crew and take revenge? Or build a different kind of world for himself? Lolly's going to have to figure this one out on his own.
Review: Another Another ALA Award winner is done. Bam! This book won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for a new African American author. I think they chose well.
Lolly, the 12-year-old main character, is living a heavy life--not much money, single mom, his brother murdered a few months before the book begins--and he is angry. He is also sad, confused, determined, talented, and worried. That's a lot for a little kid, but Lolly handles it all well and the author lures us in so that we really understand all of the feelings Lolly is having.
I loved that Lolly discovered Legos and building and designing. Thanks to a few caring adults Lolly learns that he can express himself and learn through architecture. Well meaning and caring adults can make such a difference in a child's life. So can good friends and Lolly definitely has that as well. And he is a wonderful friend to others. Those are such important messages and lessons that this story emphasizes.
FTC Disclosure: I bought this book with my own money
Summary (from the inside flap of the book): It all started with two garbage bags full of Legos. Or no, maybe it started with the two thugs following Lolly down 125th that night. Or maybe it was Jermaine's dying. Or that fight they had before 'Maine got shot.
Yeah, probably it was that.
Lolly's having a hard time knowing how to be without his older brother around. Seems like he's either sad or mad. The thing that helps most is building. His mom's girlfriend gave him two huge bags of Legos, and Lolly's working on an epic city--a project so big it outgrows his apartment. But there are dangers outside. Older guys who harass Lolly and then jump him and his friend Vega.
What would Jermaine want him to do? Get with a crew and take revenge? Or build a different kind of world for himself? Lolly's going to have to figure this one out on his own.
Review: Another Another ALA Award winner is done. Bam! This book won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for a new African American author. I think they chose well.
Lolly, the 12-year-old main character, is living a heavy life--not much money, single mom, his brother murdered a few months before the book begins--and he is angry. He is also sad, confused, determined, talented, and worried. That's a lot for a little kid, but Lolly handles it all well and the author lures us in so that we really understand all of the feelings Lolly is having.
I loved that Lolly discovered Legos and building and designing. Thanks to a few caring adults Lolly learns that he can express himself and learn through architecture. Well meaning and caring adults can make such a difference in a child's life. So can good friends and Lolly definitely has that as well. And he is a wonderful friend to others. Those are such important messages and lessons that this story emphasizes.
Challenges for which this counts:
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