Newbery Award-winner, After Tupac and D. Foster was written by the same person who wrote Feathers, Jacqueline Woodson, and you can tell it from the writing style. Both books focus on young African-American girls living in New York City and tell their stories from a very narrative point of view. While Feathers is set back several decades, Newbery Winner After Tupac is set closer to modern-day, yet it’s precisely the time setting that seemed confusing to me. This book was released relatively recently, having won Newbery honors in 2008, yet as the back drop of the book is the life and death of Tupac which happened closer to the time when I was a kid. Granted, Tupac is still a household name but I wonder if the exact circumstances still resonate with kids the way the author seems to expect them too.
On the other hand, although the life, death and music of Tupac is mentioned throughout the book, there wasn’t a hugely significant presence other than that. Not one, I think, that would warrant a placement in the title. Of course you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I initially put off reading After Tupac since I didn’t think the title seemed like something I would want to read.
Once getting past that and realizing the book doesn’t focus entirely on the musician, and is rather a tale about two girls from two families and how their lives intertwine with a new friend – who is only around for a season – I warmed up to the book and enjoyed it for the narrative it had to offer. The same things I liked about Feathers were true of After Tupac. Both books focus on a slice of “real” life as told from the perspective of kids growing up in a world that is at once different from any I knew growing up (not only are the characters African-American, the struggle with issues of racism, sexism, loved ones who are wrongly jailed, bigotry, poverty, the foster system), and yet similar in the themes of pre-teen struggle (crushes, sibling rivalry, wanting more freedom).
This is the main reason why I’ve enjoyed both Feathers and After Tupac. I get to see a slice of life different from any I’ve experienced, while still being able to identify with the characters. This is not only a unique writing style, but a true talent of the writer to be able to draw in readers who on the surface have nothing in common with the book’s characters and yet make them feel like they can identify with the circumstances. For these reasons I would recommend this Newbery honor book, as well as other books by Woodson.
