Courage by Barbara Binns

 T'Shawn and Dontae are best friends and life for them in Chicago is good for the most part. T'Shawn and his younger sister Rochelle live with their mom and the family has been through their fair share of hardship what with the dad's passing and the incarceration of the eldest son Lamont. Then out of the blue, T'Shawn's mom announces that Lamont is being released early and his reintegration into the family does not come easy especially as Lamont is still holding on to some painful memories from the past.

Author Binns is a Chicago native and her familiarity with the people and places is apparent. It is always refreshing to read novels written by natives as they are usually intimately familiar with th history and culture of a specific region. Binns is also familiar with some of the negative aspects of life in the Windy City and she sprinkles some of those facts throughout the novel as well.

One of my takeaways -and I hope that young readers of all ethnicities who read this book feel the same-is that that although it is easy to judge people because of their past and because of appearances, one never knows the real story. in this book, Lamont's conflict is with himself and also with other people he encounters/

This novel would be a great addition to any classroom library. Young urban readers will love seeing themselves reflected in its pages while readers from other parts of the country will get a window into the lives of kids different from themselves.  Some read alikes to this novel are David Barclay's The Stars Beneath Our Feet, Christine Kendall's Riding Chance and Torrey Maldonado's Tight.