Articles, Interviews, and Reviews
Reforma Newsletter
National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking
Volume 25, Number 172
Spring/Summer 2007
Audience: Teens, young adults; middle, high school and public libraries.
Tyrone is a senior in high school looking forward to graduating when his life is turned upside down after his father walks out on the family following a heated argument with his mother. Struggling with anger toward his father, Tyrone eventually drops out of school so he can work to help pay the family’s bills. His mother and school officials encourage him to go back to school and consider his future if he goes to college. Tyrone has a lot of hard thinking to do and decisions to make. This is a good book for teens wondering whether they can make it in life if they drop out of school.
Reviewed by Magna Diaz, Frankford High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Catholic Library Ward
Volume 77, Number June 2007
By Allan O-Grady Cuseo
Tyrone’s Betrayal
The seventh book in the Roosevelt High series featuring multiracial characters in an urban setting is in the same vein as the previous six. The language is simple, the plot unrealistic at times, and the dialogue stilted. Yet they will have great appeal to the teen reader. They are fast reads, excellent for the reluctant reader, as the flat characters will be recognizable to the urban teen. The series is plot driver, not character, and the average reader will care less about those literary elements.
Tyrone, angry that his alcoholic father has left home, has to assume the role of the man of the family. His life descends quickly into drinking, skipping school, eventually quitting school, and hanging with less than desirable buddies. He does, however, pull himself together, and go to work to help his mother with the family bills. His psychologist, Dr. Martinez, introduces him to a man who runs a program for angry young men and the reader hopes for Tyrone’s turnaround. With everyone’s help, he does return to school with the hopes of eventually becoming an engineer.
His mother agrees to forgive her husband and the father returns home—much to Tyrone’s disbelief and outrage. Will Tyrone accept his mother’s decision? Can a person change? This novel could serve as an introduction to repentance and forgiveness issues and would create a fascinating discussion topic.
Voya
February 2007
By Delia A. Culberson
Tyrone’s Betrayal
When Tyrone’s father, a habitual drinker, abandons his family after an angry argument with his wife, the young man feels deeply betrayed and bitter toward his father. Although a senior at Roosevelt High and formerly a model student, Tyrone allows his resentment and frustration to spill over into outbursts of temper at school, and much to his mother’s distress, he soon quits school and gets a job to help support his family. Enter Dr. Sandra Martinez, a local counselor who had casually met Tyrone through his Chicano girlfriend, Maya. At her concerned urging, Tyrone reluctantly agrees to meet with the coordinator of the newly opened Teen Resource Center, a man who has great success helping at-risk African American and Chicano youths. Skeptical at first, Tyrone is later so well impressed with this man’s good work that he begins to attend the Center and then returns to school. He even changes his intended college major from engineering to social work to help other teens. Eventually and despite Tyrone’s clear opposition, his now contrite father returns home, eager to make amends to his family by attending AA meetings regularly. Gradually Tyrone’s attitude also changes, and the teenager realizes how much he really loves and has missed his dad.
In this Roosevelt High School series entry, Velasquez’s easy writing style and true-to-life language will capture teens’ attention. The credible characters along with the well-developed if somewhat simplistic plot also make for entertaining and inspiring reading. The glossary helps with the many Spanish phrases and idioms used throughout. This award-winning writer’s highly acclaimed series provides not only positive role models but also constructive ideas for resolving social and cultural issues often facing multiracial teens.