Tyrell was a story I didn't think I'd like, but ended up loving. I didn't know how I was going to take to a narrator who spoke in Ebonics. If that sounds racist, it's because it is. Tyrell would not have worked if a kid who grew up in the projects and had dropped out of school at 15 was speaking proper English. Looking back, I'm ashamed of how worried I was about the language of the book when it is full of rich characterization and moving stories.

Tyrell is a fascinating narrator because you can relate to his problems, and sometimes you just want to strangle him when he makes bad decisions BUT you still want to see him succeed. Tyrell spends a lot of time worrying about becoming someone he doesn't want to be, and as the story goes on it becomes more and more apparent that his true nature could save him from those things, yet heartbreaking circumstances like poverty and hunger make a person desperate.

The characters in this book were not at all cookie cutter. I loved Tyrell's girlfriend Novisha and his friend Jasmine. Both are very complex girls with unhappy pasts who are trying to do what is best for themselves and the people they care about in two very different and often destructive ways.

There are some plot lines that remain very loose ends by the conclusion, but I heard Coe is writing a sequel! A sequel will be great because I can't say I was happy with Tyrell's reactions to certain events at the end of the story. But I wouldn't change those events or Tyrell's reaction if I could. ( )

Tyrell is trying to get some money together so his mom and little brother can get into an apartment again and out of the cock roach infested hotel emergency housing their in now. His mom wants him to start selling drugs with his friend Calvin, but Tyrell is determined to not end up in jail like his dad. Tyrell is hoping to throw a party and DJ with his dad's equipment to make money, while juggling all these details, he is also dealing with problems with his girlfriend who he is planning to spend the rest of his life with and a girl named jasmine who is also in the same hotel as him. ( )

Reviewed by Long Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

Coe Booth's first novel, TYRELL, is a masterfully written, gritty reality check of urban life through the eyes of a heavily burdened fifteen-year-old. After his father is sentenced to prison (for the third time), it is up to Tyrell Green to take care of both his deranged mother and his seven-year-old brother, Troy. But Tyrell is only fifteen! Not only is he living in a completely run-down shelter, but he is broke, out of school, and struggling for some way to earn money to get his mom and brother out of shelter care and into an apartment of their own.

In a place like the Bronx, it is easy for young adults to get caught up in a life of crime. Tyrell knows this, but is also a man of principle (for the most part, at least). Refusing to earn his quick buck through such shady sources as drug dealing, he originates a plan to get the money he needs to get things back to the way they were. The question of whether it will work, or whether it will blow up in his face....you'll have to read TYRELL to find out (but it's worth it!)

The great thing about TYRELL is that Coe Booth keeps the pressure on at all times. Real life drama is quilted into the novel until the very end, and it is both humbling and very entertaining to read. She also incorporates real urban vernacular (e.g. "slang") to create an extremely real and convincing narrative.

Coe Booth creates an atmosphere so believable it's impossible not to walk away after reading the novel and not have taken something with you. The characters experience the lowest of lows, the highest of highs, and everything in-between throughout the course of the story--and it doesn't stop until the very end. Dripping from head to toe with sharp turns and very surprising climaxes, it's sure to keep you consumed until the last page.

It's a lot to pack into a story, but Booth does it gracefully and with extraordinary skill. I praise Ms. Booth's first novel and am waiting anxiously for the next.

Plus, she's a PUSH novelist, and it doesn't get much better than PUSH! ( )

Matthew Weaver (VOYA, February 2007 (Vol. 29, No. 6))

This book is a amazing!!! Its about a boy and his family problems and street promlems. Once you start you won't be able to stop!!!!!!!!!!!! ( )