When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

• Ali lives in a tough neighborhood in New York but stays out of trouble by spending his time boxing, helping out at home, and hanging with his best friend Noodles, who unlike Ali, is a guy who seems to look for trouble.
  
• Then there's Noodles' brother Needles who has Tourette's Syndrome which causes him to twitch and blurt out crazy things -- but everyone in the neighborhood knows Needles is cool and looks out for him.
• Everything is cool until one night Ali, Noodles, and Needles end up somewhere they shouldn't be, where people don't know Needles -- then things stop being cool.

"A lot of stuff that gives my neighborhood a bad name, I don't really mess with.  The guns and drugs and all that, not really my thing."  Ali's voice is so real that you'll think you're sitting with him and Noodles on the stoop in their Bed Stuy neighborhood as his tale unfolds.  A great look into the life of an urban teen on the cusp of manhood as he deals with everything life throws his way.

Grades 7-12