When We Wuz Famous by Greg Takoudes

Rarely does an indie film become novelized by its director, but such is the unusual case with Takoudes’ When We Wuz Famous.  As the novel begins, Vincent, one of six friends in New York City who make up the Kaos Krew, has been shot and killed.  Reignbow, his best friend’s girl, is in an interrogation room in East Harlem with Detective Keating and not making it easy on the detective.  The reader is forced to wonder at why Reignbow is under interrogation after Vincent’s death.  Unexpectedly, however, the story mostly centers on Francisco, Vincent’s best friend and Reign’s boyfriend, who has been recruited out of his neighborhood and into an elite boarding school hours away from the city.   A YA novel for developing urban fiction readers who have already read Street Pharm and Monster, and not yet ready for a common core text exemplar. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Takoudes, Greg.  When We Wuz Famous.  New York:  Henry Holt and Company, 2013.

Educators and book club facilitators may want to check out the publisher's discussion guide here.