Vanessa Irvin Morris

If you are doing any readers’ advisory work in an urban setting, then it is essential to be very familiar with street literature. You may have already seen last year’s Urban Grit (Libraires Unlimited) with its bibliographies. This book is more of a series of essays treating the genre with titles woven into the discussion. Street literature is defined as either fiction or nonfiction with an urban setting of street life as its place. The author subdivides urban fiction into a number of sub-genres for this book: chick lit, lad lit, urban erotica, street lit, and urban fantasy. Morris’s writing is an easy good read with examples and is perfect for the night stand followed by action the next day to consume or think about the topic of the particular essay. And, since so much frank feelings, experiences, romance, crime, and drugs are a reality, you will encounter conversations on all of these realistic themes and how to handle them as part of a collection and repertoire of talk with and among teens. Consider this title as a springboard to the creation of book clubs, discussion groups, virtual book clubs, and one on one discussions. Essential for “being in the know.”… (meer)