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After Tupac & D Foster

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"Everyone's got a purpose and it's just that they gotta figure out what it is and then go have it."

That's what D says anyway.

D Foster is the girl who shows up on their block one day at the end of summer. She says she got off the bus in Queens because she liked the way the trees looked. That's the type of girl she is. She's also a roamer, roaming all over the place. Neeka and the unnamed narrator learn very quickly that D has something they don't have, something they're jealous for --- freedom.

The narrator and her single mother are trying to make ends meet. Her best friend Neeka grew up in a large churchy family with a set of issues all their own. Both of them come from a world where mothers are everything and fathers live in the distant background. But even though their families have rules and curfews, they have parents who seem to care, which is something D would trade all the roaming in the world for.

When D first shows up, rapper Tupac Shakur hasn't been shot yet. To these three 12-year-old girls, he's an icon. He sings about the things they're living. They see him and listen to his lyrics, and it's like they're looking at themselves in the words. His art is real. He knows them and their lives and has something to say that means something, and he's supposed to be "for always." Like the best of friends are. Even when the bullets come.

Bullets are a certain kind of bad, but there are other things that hurt just as much, only in other ways. Like how D hasn't seen her real mother in a long time and has to live with her foster mom Flo until who knows when. Or how Neeka's oldest brother Tash is doing time in jail for something stupid. Or how the girls don't know much at all about D besides what she tells them. Which is all you can really know about a friend, isn't it? If they never tell you, how are you supposed to know? With how much time the girls spend together, you'd think they'd know all there is to know about each other --- family and friends, passions and fears, their history. But everyone has their secrets. Even D.

When it comes down to it, Jacqueline Woodson has packed a lot of tough topics into this airtight little story: throwaway kids, jail visits, homosexuality, Tupac's art, fatherlessness, and the hope some kids cling to that they might one day play professional sports. With so many big issues in the mix, it's amazing how smooth the story flows. It's no wonder that her books have earned so much praise --- Newbery Honor Medal, Caldecott Honor, ALA Best Book, National Book Award Finalist, Coretta Scott King Award and the L.A. Times Book Prize, among others.

As Tupac's lyrics did (and still do), Woodson's characters stand there, so familiar, and catch something in the hearts of her readers. Her writing aims high and hits deep. AFTER TUPAC & D FOSTER is another solid performance by a proven name in young adult literature. You won't want to miss it.

--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

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When I read If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson back in spring, I was completely blown away by the beauty and the tragedy of it. It's a simple, lovely novel that has the power to change lives. So really if you haven't read it yet, stop reading this review and go read If you come softly. You won't regret it. After reading it, I wanted to read every Jacqueline Woodson book I could get my hands on, so when I saw After Tupac and D Foster on my library shelf, I grabbed it right away.

Where If you come softly was a story about romantic love, After Tupac and D Foster is the story of three black girls who are best friends, Neeka, D and our narrator. D mysteriously enters their lives the summer before they turn twelve and just as quickly leaves right after they turn 13. Tupac plays an important role in the girls' lives, with the book beginning when Tupac was shot for the first time and ending with his death. D looks up to Tupac and she feels as though he is talking directly to her through his music. They become closer friends through their passion for the musician and it gives the novel the perfect arc.

What I loved best about After Tupac and D Foster was the narrator and her voice. She's very mature, but not unbelievable, and she is just looking for a little bit of beauty in the world. The novel captures an era and a place perfectly. The love that the three girls share is so perfectly described, but it manages to be about bigger things than that. It is a short book, but one that encompasses so many parts of life, from the challenges to the perfect moments. I loved the inclusion of Tupac in this book because it puts it in a precise moment of time, New York in the 90s. Tupac is a fascinating man and I highly recommend the VH1 documentary about his life. There are so many things that I didn't know about him, but having watched the documentary beforehand really gave me a greater sense of the emotional way that the girls reacted to Tupac and just how important he really was (and is).

But Woodson does not stop at the girls' friendship or their relationship with Tupac. There is so much more in this book and it's amazing how much Woodson captures in 150 pages. One of the most touching scenes is when the narrator and Neeka go visit Neeka's brother Tash in jail. He was wrongfully accused of assaulting an old friend, but really it was a crime against Tash, in which he was beaten as well. Tash, a gay man, must avoid being beaten or worse in prison and he has a conversation with his mother that will absolutely break your heart.

And that is exactly what Woodson does for her readers. You so perfectly step into this world, onto this street and you are completely with the three girls that it does not feel like you are reading a story, it's more real than that. There are many other passages that I want to quote for you, but I think I'll let you discover them for yourself. Jacqueline Woodson has done it again and I plan on reading everything she has ever written, because if all her books are only half as good as If you come softly and After Tupac and D Foster then they will all be excellent.

Woodson's engrossing story contains a lot of big issues, but the main theme is about friendship, and how unexpected changes come into our lives as we are touched by others.

AFTER TUPAC & D FOSTER is a tension-filled story of how two twelve-year-old girls meet an outsider and become friends with her. "D" is a foster child, and has adopted "Foster" as her last name. Abandoned by her mother, D Foster is searching for something that is missing in her life...perhaps a sense of belonging and permanence. The other two girls begin to explore the city with her, all of them searching for their "Big Purpose" in life. All the girls have their own set of family issues, and their own approach to solving these problems.

All three girls are great fans of the rapper, Tupac Shakur, and are dismayed when he is shot. They examine the meaning of his rap lyrics as they apply to their lives as African-Americans living in Queens, New York, and find that they have much in common with his ideas.

When D's birth mother shows up to reclaim her daughter and take her out of the lives of the other two girls, you can't help but hope that her life will be better this time -- while fearing that it will be a rerun of her past history.

Racism, homosexuality, and incarceration are touched upon in this slice-of-life story. Every teen can find something to relate to in this emotional story of how teens cope with life. There isn't a great deal of suspense, but Ms. Woodson's writing style is absorbing, and makes you wish the story was longer. It does give you cause to reflect on how your own friends and acquaintances have changed your life.

Reviewed by: Grandma Bev

Bought this book to read with a book lcub I go to with incarcerated girls. The kids were really into it. They loved Jaacqueline woodson stories.

This was a thrilling book assigned to me to read for school. It was a book of heartbreak friendship and life through the eyes of a preteen girl and her 2 best friends. They all have their own problems and on top of that their idol Tupac, is shot and killed.... That devastates them so how will they survive? And will their friendship survive? This is a great novel and I recommended it to anyone who wants to read of friendship and triumph.

This book is a terrific slice of history and a bird's eye view into this working class community and the girls who become friends in the way that only teenage girls seem to do: deeply, passionately, and 'forever'. Ms. Woodson does a terrific job weaving in the unnerving presence of D, the girl in foster care and as such it is a thought-provoking work about ideas of what constitutes 'family' and how community exists both in and outside of our individual neighborhoods. Commitment to all, even with significant differences, is also described.

True Friendship Never Dies

By Thanh Thi
To be honest the first reason why I decided to choose this book was because of the title and how it had one of my favorite rapper Tupac in the title but this book goes way beyond that. The story is about true friendship and people coming together. I really don't want to go into details because the story is really worth reading. I really do see a comparison on how Tupac had such a influence on many people and D Foster was important in lives as well. This book is really full of influence on life and different cultures and understanding through struggle. At time I will admit, the story was kind of boring but I really did enjoy reading how much power the writer put into this book. This story deal with a lot of issue that we sometime do not really notice but the conflict is out there. Everyone can relate to this book but mostly I recommended to teenagers. The story really does go beyond the title and I will tell you, yes it is worth reading.

This book was a required reading for a multicultural class. While it was an easy read, I think there are better books out there in this genre.

I teach 7th and 8th grades and this book helped a child with a report he was doing on Black American Authors. Yes, Tupac was an author.

I loved this book! I really really wanted to be friends with the three main characters. (Even though I'm much older than they are!!!)

It's fresh! (I can see why "fresh" was such a hip word at one time.)

The book is serious AND funny. Here's my first excerpt ... the narrator is going to visit her brother in prison ... her family is all there waiting at the door:

The loudest sound in the world is the soft click of prison gates locking behind you.
Maybe it's how final it is--the loud slam of the gate, then the quick, gentle click. Then the scary feeling of it all being forever.
So many gates slamming shut. So many locks clicking. One after the other until you're all the way inside.
And the only way out is at the hands of a prison guard, who has to press a button. And turn a key. Then press another button, and turn another key. All the while staring at each of you. And you know what he's thinking:
Remember this place good, y'all. We got a spot waiting for you.

Writing doesn't get any better than that.

Here's another excerpt, hopefully it'll give you a real taste of the liveliness of the book:

Neeka took a last sip of hot chocolate, set her cup on my dresser, then lay back on my bed, her head wrapped in one of Mama's scarves to keep it from getting messy while she slept.
"I get it now," she said.
I nodded.
"D's cool. She's like from another planet. The Planet of the Free." Neeka sat up on one elbow and looked at me. "I'm gonna go to that planet one day."
I shook my head and laughed. "We did, girl! We went tonight!"
Neeka held out her hand and I slapped it. And we laughed like we were losing our minds.