Tillit, L.B. Unchained.

Tillit, L.B.  Unchained.  Saddleback, 2012.  197p.    $8.95 ISB 978-1-61651-7-922 ms/hs  VG-BN Realistic Fiction

     TJ is being torn back and forth, between druggie parents, loving foster care, a rehabilitated mom, a drug gang, and the person he really wants to be.  It is realistic urban street literature, but well written, and it shows hope for the future.  TJ grew up with drug-addicted parents.  He mostly raised himself.  As a teen he is brought into a drug gang as a delivery boy.  When his father dies, TJ is placed in a foster home.  He resists at first, but discovers what it feels like to be loved, well taken care of, and valued for the first time in his life.  After two years he is making real progress at maturing.
     Then one day he is ripped from this loving home to live with his mother, who has cleaned up her act.  TJ does not want to go back.  While his mother is off drugs, she really has not learned how to parent.  TJ is dragged back into the gang and is working his way up the ranks when a rival gang raids the gang house, killing the leader and most of the members. TJ finds he has a choice.  He can take over the leadership or escape from this life.  With his mom’s approval he goes back to the loving foster family where he feels he is going back home.
     This title is well written.  It is street smart but still literate.  The plot moves at a varying pace, just the way life moves.  The situations are realistic, but TJ comes to see that he does have choices about what he will make of himself.

Joan Theal