Darius & Twig

Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers, 201 pages

Darius and Twig are best friends, growing up in Harlem. Darius is smart and wants to be a writer. Twig is fast and wants to run. Twig is on the track team and is one of the best. He is likely to get a scholarship somewhere. Darius is thrilled for his friend but he worries about himself. He really wants to get out of Harlem, where he sees other kids getting caught up in gangs and little girls getting shot at block parties. His only real chance to get out is if he can get a scholarship but his grades slipped a little during a bad time with his family and his big chance to get schools to notice him is if he can get a story published in a magazine. The magazine liked his story but wants him to edit it and resubmit it and Darius just isn’t sure how to be true to the story and make the changes the magazine is asking for. This is a really great coming of age type of story that a lot of teen boys would probably like.