When We Wuz Famous by Greg Takoudes (review)

Basketball ace and honor-roll student Francisco is thrilled when a scholarship opportunity takes him out of his Spanish Harlem high school and lands him in an elite boarding school in upstate New York for his senior year. His girlfriend, Reignbow, and childhood pal Vincent, however, are understandably less pleased: though Reign tries to be supportive, she doubts that their relationship will survive the distance, while impulsive, hot-tempered Vincent decides the best way to get Fran back home is to get into some trouble so Fran is forced to revive his role as V's protector. Defaulting on a payout from the hood's most lethal loan shark, however, is no simple game, and soon Vincent, Fran, and Reign find themselves in circumstances increasingly out of their control until a final attempt to repay the loan leaves one of them dead. Filmmaker Takoudes adapts his independent film Up with Me with mixed results. With its uneven pacing, the book races through swaths of time only to linger too long over insignificant moments; the rapid-fire dialogue is quick-witted and emotionally authentic, but the prose in between is sometimes clunky ("There was an uncomfortable pause between the two old friends"). Despite these flaws, the story remains compelling as its characters face up to some heartbreaking truths: that the friendships they were certain were lifelong may not survive the transition to adulthood, and that, sometimes, bad luck and bad choices simply trump love and loyalty. Teens who have been exposed to the hard side of life will more easily relate to these lessons, but even readers who know the mean streets only through pop culture will appreciate this closer look at friendship in crisis.