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    Dope Sick
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    Dope Sick
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    Dope Sick
    Ebook132 pages2 hours

    Dope Sick

    By Walter Dean Myers

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A powerful novel of drugs, violence—and second chances. Dope Sick, from two-time Newbery Honor winner and five-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Walter Dean Myers, belongs on reading lists beside Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Dear Martin by Nic Stone.

    A drug deal goes south and a cop has been shot. Lil J's on the run. And he's starting to get dope sick. He'd do anything to change the last twenty-four hours, and when he stumbles into an abandoned building, it actually might be possible. . . .

    Elements of magical realism intensify this harrowing story about drug use, violence, perceptions of reality, and second chances.

    This ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers earned multiple starred reviews and was described as "vivid," "nuanced," and "intriguing." Booklist said: “Myers’ narrative strategy is so inherently dramatic that it captures his readers’ attentions and imaginations, inviting not only empathy but also thoughtful discussion.”

    Walter Dean Myers was a New York Times bestselling author, Printz Award winner, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, two-time Newbery Honor recipient, and the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Maria Russo, writing in the New York Times, called Myers "one of the greats and a champion of diversity in children’s books well before the cause got mainstream attention."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061974977
    Author

    Walter Dean Myers

    Walter Dean Myers was the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award; a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; and an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers received every single major award in the field of children's literature. He was the author of two Newbery Honor Books and six Coretta Scott King Awardees. He was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, a three-time National Book Award Finalist, as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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    Reviews for Dope Sick

    4/5

    68 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Myers blurs the fine line between reality and surreality in his latest. Lil J has gotten caught up in a drug deal he never intended to be a part of. In fact, his intentions for the day were to get a real job to help support his mom. Chased into a run down apartment building, he runs into a strange man who seems to know way more about Lil J than he should. This novel is fast-paced, strikingly rich, and important.
    • 4/5
      by police when a drug deal goes bad, seventeen-year-old Jeremy Dance, known as Lil J, is forced to examine the choices he has made in life as he struggles to answer the question “If you could do things all over again and change something, What would it be?” (24) After being shot Lil J stumbles into an abandoned building in Harlem and meets the mysterious Kelly watching television. Lil J discovers that Kelly is much more than just another junkie squatter. Using a television remote, Kelly reveals all facets of Lil J’s life both past and present forcing Lil J to reflect on the choices he has made that have led him to a life of crime and drug addiction. Meyer’s brings depth to his character as Kelly forces Lil J to take responsibility for his poor decisions. Readers come to understand how poverty and circumstance impact his development. This story is sure to keep teens turning pages and readers who are familiar with Meyer’s other works will not be disappointed in this novel.
    • 3/5
      Lil J relives how he started using drugs and discusses what he would change about his life with a mysterious guy in an apartment who's able to show him his life on the TV.
    • 3/5
      Li'l J can't see any way out of the downward spiral of his life. His mother is a sickly alchoholic. He's not allowed to see his baby son. He spends time like a lot of the other young men he sees in Harlem, just hanging out, passing time, selling drugs. Occasionally he does heroin to escape the "hole" he's in. When a drug deal to an undercover cop ends badly, Li'l J escapes to an abandoned apartment building where he meets an unusual man named Kelly. Kelly is watching a television that not only shows what's happening on the street but plays out scenes from Li'l J's past and possibly near future. As Li'l J hides out, he and Kelly talk about what went wrong with J's life. The messages of change and taking responsibility and that life doesn't always come easy are strongly implied but when the book ends it's not certain if Li'l J got the message. Some kids might be confused by the magical realism but with the right group leader, a book discussion could be really fruitful. Author Myers manages to maintain a street-smart tone without relying on obscenities, although at moments the slangy talk seems forced or dated.
    • 4/5
      Lil' J Dance, on the lam after accidentally shooting a cop, has a second chance to re-do his life. He stumbles into an abandoned building and finds a street person, Kelly, watching a TV that replays the last 24 hours of Lil J's life. The street language is spot-on and its message of making 'better' choices will resonate with teen readers.
    • 5/5
      This book is about a boy whose name is Lil' J. He has been accused for killing a cop, but his buddy Rico killed him. Lil' J has been hiding from the cops in an abandoned building. He met a guy in the building named Kelly. Now he a has a magic TV. He shows Lil' J the past of his life and the future. Lil' J has been doing drugs and have not been doing that well in school either. He has a lot going on in his life. His mom has been sick and taking drugs. Also his girlfriend had gotten pregnant and had a little boy named Brian. Lil' J has been dope sick, and is trying to find out a way to get out of the building without getting caught. I think this book is really good. It may be a bad influence on kids, but its telling some people on how they live. They don't know what to do when their life is like that. People have been having kids younger and younger and now the main character is father. But he is in a really bad place. He hasn't been doing well in school or at home.
    • 4/5
      Dope Sick opens in high drama: Harlem teenager Lil J has hurt his arm badly during a drug run gone bad, and he’s deciding whether to surrender to the cops down the block or hide in a nearby abandoned building. He decides on the building, and in a twist that totally hooks the reader, discovers Kelly, a guy whose TV plays a movie of Lil J’s life -- now the current moment, now fast-forwarding to a future where Lil J is caught by the police and puts his gun to his own head. This present and future are so different from what Lil J has hoped for himself and for his addicted mother, that when Kelly offers to rewind the movie -- to give Lil J a do-over if he can identify where he took the wrong turn in life -- Lil J is hooked by the possibilities, too.Dope Sick is a quick, intense teen novel, and Lil J narrates in a street voice that’s effectively developed through credible language and speech patterns rather than intrusive dialect.
    • 4/5
      Lil J was involved in a drug deal that turned bad and ended with a police officer being shot. On the run, he hides in an abandoned building and finds a guy named Kelly, who he takes for a squatter. But Kelly has a TV, and a remote control that he can use to show pictures of Lil J's life and choices, past, present and future.