Homeboyz

Homeboyz (2007) is the third book in Alan Sitomer’s young adult trilogy Hoopster, a series of novels focused on issues of poverty, racism, and gang violence. The novel subverts several common tropes in stories set in violent neighborhoods, playing with reader expectations.

Meeksha Livingston, known as Blink, is a violent, foul-mouthed thirteen-year-old girl who voluntarily joins a street gang known as the 22nd Street Merks, choosing to undergo both the violent and sexual initiation processes despite only being required to choose one. Meeksha is buying ice cream when a car drives by and guns her down, also killing a girl standing nearby, Tina Anderson.

Tina’s family is rocked by the news, although such violence is common in their neighborhood. Mrs. Anderson sinks into depression, and Pops struggles to keep the family going just as he struggles to keep his laundry business going. Tina’s older sister, Theresa, called Tee-Ay, comes home from school. Tina’s brother, Teddy, known as T-Bear, doesn’t experience grief and sadness, however. He gets angry. A tall, athletic, and handsome kid, Teddy is also very smart and extremely skilled at hacking and programming computers. Furious, he decides to seek revenge on his sister’s murderer.



Teddy goes out in his older brother’s car searching for the 0-1-0’s. Because Tina is considered a “good” girl, the shooting has attracted more attention than normal and the police are out in force, expecting retaliation from the Merks. Teddy drives to a location where he knows the gang operates; instead of barging in, he makes notes of police activity until he understands their patterns, then he approaches the gang pretending to be a drug dealer. Teddy incapacitates the gang members with pepper spray and threatens to burn them alive, demanding information about his sister’s killer. The gang member claims the 0-1-0’s are not responsible, but Teddy refuses to believe him. Teddy prepares to set the gang member on fire, but the police come and arrest him before he can do so.

Teddy is sent to juvenile hall for his attempted murder. While in the center, he is treated by the other inmates as a gang member as opposed to a civilian. His intelligent demeanor earns him entry into a gang prevention program and he is given probation. He learns that the program is in danger of losing its funding. He is put under house arrest, has an ankle bracelet attached, and Officer Mariana Diaz is assigned to his case. Additionally, Teddy is forced to attend a local school and mentor a young boy named Micah. Teddy initially dislikes Micah because Micah is a violent kid who wants to join a gang.

Teddy uses his hacking skills to embezzle money and to investigate Tina’s murder, deciding that the leader of the 0-1-0’s, known on the street as Eevil was responsible. As Teddy and Micah work together, Micah becomes involved in helping Teddy with his revenge plot and is welcomed into Teddy’s home. Teddy’s parents show affection for Micah, something he’s never experienced before living in foster care. Micah begins to change, realizing that he doesn’t have to be a gangster and live a life of senseless violence. He finally admits to Teddy that Eevil isn’t responsible for Tina’s death—Micah’s own cousin, known as Mumzy B, is the man who killed both Blink and Tina.



Micah helps Teddy set up his cousin, who has changed since the killing. Filled with regret and with a pregnant girlfriend, Mumzy B has walked away from the gang life and is trying to change. Unbeknown to him, he has already been marked for death by Eevil because of his betrayal of the gang. Teddy arranges to meet Mumzy B as a friend and they go for a drive; Teddy pulls out a gun and puts it to Mumzy B’s head. Teddy finds he cannot shoot him, however, and tells him he wants something he cannot give: his sister. Teddy then tells Mumzy B that Eevil is planning to execute him.

Mumzy B is panicked by this information, and they drive hurriedly back to Mumzy B’s apartment, where they find his girlfriend brutally murdered. At first, Mumzy B pulls a gun on Teddy, believing that this was part of Teddy’s plan. Convinced otherwise, Mumzy B puts the gun in his mouth and commits suicide.

When Eevil is arrested, Teddy hacks the systems to ensure that Eevil is placed in the worst prison and the worst cell. He also takes the money he had embezzled and gives it to the gang prevention program, having seen what it can do with Micah. The Andersons visit Tina’s grave, and Teddy is finally able to experience grief instead of anger.