Concrete Rose

Concrete Rose

YA fiction
"'You're gonna do what you have to do, Maverick, she says.
'That's what being a parent means. Your child is now your
responsibility. You'll be changing his diapers. You'll be feeding
him. You'll be dealing with him in the middle of the night. You--'
Had my whole life turned upside down and she don't care?"
Maverick, protagonist of Angie Thomas' Concrete Rose, has just
learned from a DNA test that he's the father of a baby when the baby's
mom takes off, leaving him to parent. Suddenly there's a crib in his
room and he's changing diapers, giving bottles, and getting up in the
middle of the night. He's discovering how draining it is to parent
while working and going to school.
Then, as he's bonding with his son Maverick's life is turned
upside down in a heartbreaking way.
"I pat Dre's face. 'Dre, wake up! C'mon man, wake up!'
He don't move.
He don't answer me.
He'll never answer me again."
Maverick is putting his son to bed when he hears gunshots and
screeching tires. He runs outside to find his beloved cousin, who had
been in his car calling his fiancée to wish her a good night, slumped
over the steering wheel, shot in the head.
Maverick and Dre are King Lords. Part of the code they live by
is that when someone kills one of your own you go the eye for an eye,
life for a life route. Maverick is pretty sure he knows who gunned
Dre down. He has someone willing to supply him with a gun.
But having a son who needs him complicates things. He could
become the next in a chain of retaliation deaths. Or he could go to
jail for a long time, becoming the same kind of absentee dad...
...his dad has been for ten years.
If a narrative of a teen candidly struggling to understand and
cope with harder challenges than most of us have to deal with in a
lifetime is your cup of tea, put Concrete Rose on your to read list.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was TOTALLY AMAZING!!! It started at
work. When I went in I was sure I was going to do tables again. Only
Jacob put me on cash. That's actually a misnomer because cash rarely
is involved. Doing cash is just sitting there making sure all the
cards get swiped correctly. People seem to think I did great.
Santiago told Jacob they'll have to put me on cash more often!
YASSS!!! After work I went to the Black Bear Exchange for the first
time since oh, snap, pandemic started. People can go in. That was
great. I'm really looking forward to volunteering there again. And I
really hope this year we can have Clean Sweep! After supper I found
out I got 100% on my first reflection paper! I'm also doing fine on
class participation. Unless campus goes all online before I know how
to submit I should be fine...and halfway to my masters. And then in
the evening Adam dropped by unexpectedly!!! We and Eugene and Tobago
had a lovely visit. Nothing caps off a sensational day quite like
seeing my one and only son! Days like that really help me get through
the more challenging ones. (Jules)
I saw Adam!!! YASSS!!! (Tobago)
Great big shout outs go out to Jacob,the tech person who helped me
submit my paper correctly, Lisa and the BBE crew, and Adam.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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