By Arbine’ McFarland
This book has approximately 294 pages including the acknowledgements page. The genre of this book is realistic YA fiction; however, it’s not a series (unfortunately). Judging from the graphic topics of the book, I do believe it’s for mature audiences like 10th – 12th grade.
Promise Boys begins with reporting the death of a high school principal from the Urban Promise Prep School, Mr. Moore. It was said he was shot, one bullet to the head on his desk. As quick as his death came was as quick as the police already had 3 suspects: three UPPS students, J.B., Ramon, and Trey who were in detention (which was conveniently right beside the principal’s office). And to make the three look even more suspicious, each of the boys had their own dispute with principal Moore before he was killed, leading to a mystery of finding the real killer before all three of the boys go to jail.
I really enjoyed reading this book a lot. Not only does the book give perspectives on the other side characters, but it also gives the reader more insight on the main characters. This book gave me a different perspective on the “troubled” kids around me. A person’s upbringing can affect someone’s behavioral problems but not their talents and their passion. Trey is one of the characters that interests me a lot. Everyone looks down on him, treating him like he’s not important or a nuisance when in truth he’s a talented kid when it comes to basketball, he’s just with a bad upbringing. For example, Trey’s uncle talks about him and his past. He brings up painful memories of Trey’s father dying of cancer when Trey was young along with Trey’s mom falling onto some desperate times. Reading this part tells me that Trey never had a proper parental figure in the vital years of his brain developing! But besides Trey, each character, even the side characters, give a well-rounded description of the school and the people in it.
On page 54-55, J.B. says, he “Never seems to acknowledge he’s not like us. Like some of the other teachers. . . talking to us in a weird, high-pitched voice. . .just sounds like the way you talk to animals at the zoo.” This quote describes the school and how they treated the kids here because this school had mostly black kids. The Urban Promise Prep School is mainly a place for troubled students that Moore wants to be “made into men.” Since most of the “problematic” students are from the least fortunate places, they treat them like prisoners and if they don’t treat them like prisoners, they treat them like animals that are out of place. This quote alone reflects how the students in Urban Promise feel being here, surrounded by people who don’t see value in them, leading to teachers never staying.
Overall, I would rate this book a complete 5 for the storytelling, the suspense of wanting to know what happens next and “who done it,” along with it being fast paced and not dragging things out to make the book longer. I love mystery books that get straight to the point with interesting story building, and Promise Boys fits right into it.