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When We Wuz Famous

Name: When We Wuz Famous
Author: Greg Takoudes
ISBN: 9780805094527

by Greg Takoudes

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Overview

Francisco Ortiz, a handsome straight-A student and gifted basketball player from the barrio, wins a full scholarship to an elite boarding school. His future seems promising. But soon after Francisco moves into the dorm, his new classmates assume the worst of him: they pepper him with questions about drugs and gangs. It’s all so confusing, made even more complicated when Francisco realizes that back home in the hood, he no longer fits in, though his friends still rely on him to solve their problems. In a desperate attempt to help one of his homies, Francisco makes a terrible decision and becomes everything he fought so hard to rise against.

Greg Takoudes has written a riveting novel about breaking down stereotypes, crossing boundaries, and clinging to where you come from.

About the Author, Greg Takoudes

Greg Takoudes is an author and filmmaker whose feature film, Up with Me—which inspired his first novel, When We Wuz Famous—won several awards, including the Special Jury Award at South by Southwest, and was distributed by IFC Films. Prior to moving to New York, he worked for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as a member of the creative team at Imagine Entertainment in Los Angeles. Greg lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children. For more about Greg, visit Takoudes.com.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Based on Takoudes’s 2008 indie film, Up with Me, this hard-hitting novel follows three teenagers in New York City’s Harlem, struggling to survive inside and outside the neighborhood. Francisco has been given the chance of a lifetime with a senior-year scholarship to a prestigious boarding school upstate. He shines on the basketball court there, but he doesn’t score as well in academics or at finding loyal friends. While Francisco suffers bouts of homesickness, his cousin Vincent flounders back in N.Y.C. without Francisco to bail him out of trouble, and Francisco’s girlfriend, Reignbow, has her hands full trying to take care of her wheelchair-bound mother. Bad decisions, missed opportunities, and betrayals lead to a tangled mess of hardships for all. The question remains whether love, forgiveness, and hope are strong enough to mend broken hearts and friendships. As Takoudes conveys major and minor tragedies, he poignantly captures Francisco’s isolation at school, Vincent’s desperation, and Reignbow’s mixture of regret and anger. Intense and determinedly realistic, this story will leave a lasting impression on readers. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ryan Fischer-Harbage, Fischer-Harbage Agency. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

"Puerto Rican senior basketballer Francisco Ortiz can’t escape the past. . . A fresh new voice in teen fiction." -- Kirkus Reviews "Intense and determinedly realistic, this story will leave a lasting impression on readers."--Publishers Weekly

"Gritty, fast-paced urban fiction." -- Booklist

"Compelling." -- BCCB

Kirkus Reviews

Puerto Rican senior basketballer Francisco Ortiz can't escape the past. At first glance, he seems to have it all: a smart and sassy girlfriend named Reignbow, a sports scholarship to an elite boarding school in upstate New York, supportive parents and a cadre of cool friends in his East Harlem neighborhood. His closest buddy, Vincent, however, has a chip on his shoulder that he can't seem to shake. Things go awry one fall weekend when Francisco comes home from school, and Vincent gets arrested for a petty crime. Things escalate from there, and drama, lies and murder all ensue as Francisco is forced to decide between his own life and Vincent's. Takoudes' first teen novel, adapted from his indie film, Up with Me, moves quickly with sharp, true-to-life dialogue, well-drawn characters and a lively NYC backdrop that's full of both life and poverty. Readers learn right from the start that there's been a murder, and the story then moves back six months to tell how it all happened. This structure mostly works. The scenes in NYC feel much more fleshed out than the ones that take place upstate, where the plot takes some unlikely twists that don't jell with Francisco's character. That won't keep readers from speeding through this quick read, however, or from picking up some carefully injected Puerto Rican culture. A fresh new voice in teen fiction. (Fiction. 14 & up)