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Jumped In
Sixteen-year-old Rasheed is smart, tough and a survivor. In his neighborhood, he has to be. The streets are run by a gang called the E Street Locals, and they've been trying to jump him in since he was a child. So far, he's managed to escape their clutches. But the gang is not his only problem. Rasheed's sister, Daneeka, was paralyzed in a drive-by shooting, and now she's confined to a wheelchair, mentally frozen at the age of nine. His mother is an addict. His father hasn't been heard from in years. High school is no safer than the streets, so Rasheed seeks solace at the local university campus. There he meets a young woman named Lanaia who takes an interest in him. He also bumps up against a police officer who he thinks at first is hassling him just because he's black. But eventually Rasheed realizes that the officer is only pushing him to become a better person. Though he can't escape his home life, or the gang, as easily as he'd like, Rasheed does learn some valuable lessons in his struggles: you and you alone are accountable for the decisions you make in life; even though the world is not a fair place, you can still accomplish whatever you set your mind to; and we all become stronger when we admit we need someone to lean on.
- GenresYoung Adult
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2017
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 2, 2020
When I reserve books at the library on the net I am often surprised when I fetch them. Sometimes they're great fat bricks and sometimes, like this one, they're tiny thin rapid reads. It took me one coffee break and half a lunch to read it. I wish it had been a full length novel because it was quite interesting. A bit too feel-good in the end, but in its brevity it described well the unescapable hell of racism and gang violence young Rasheed lives with in LA. A very good intro to young white kids who live privileged lives.
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June 17, 2019This fictional novel is written for low – literate readers and it is included in the Rapid Reads Series at Orca Book Publishers. Per the article, “Assessment and Instruction of Oral Reading Fluency Among Adults with Low Literacy, “ninety-three million adults (43%) in the United States read at or below a basic level and “…one third of these individuals lack even the most simple, concrete literacy skills.” (Mellard, Woods, & Fall, 2011)
The main character is named, Rasheed and he is only sixteen-years old. The author, William Kowalski, wrote this novel in first person and he uses the main character’s voice to narrate his emotions, his feelings about his living environment and his dreams for his future.
Rasheed is a young man who lives in a dysfunctional family. His mother is a drug addict and his sister, Daneeka, who is now nineteen years old is disabled due to a gunshot wound, which happened ten years ago. The author does not explain the characterization of Rasheed in detail, because the reader does not know why he does not attend school, why he does not call child protective services on his mother like other kids do or why he commits petty crimes to eat.
Rasheed never attends school, instead he visits a local university where he feels safe, and observes the students, fantasizing that the grass is greener on the other side. He never met his father, so he does not know whether he is dead or alive. According to the leader of a local gang, the Locals, named Boss, his father used to be a member.
In Rasheed’s world you must belong somewhere such as a gang to be protected or just to earn money to survive. He is constantly being recruited by the Locals. The author didn’t introduce any positive role models of color to show a balance such as other teenagers who attend their local high school, have friendships and achieve and parents who are there for their children emotionally and physically, are gainfully employed and encourage their children to be the best that they can be. Instead, the author used stereotypes about black people such as gang membership, theft, drug addiction, etc. The only positive characters inserted into this novel were whites such as the female college student who comes to his rescue when he is harassed by a university police officer and that same male university police officer who later shows some interest in Rasheed.
The reason that this novel is not written authentically is because the author is white and he is attempting to write our story, but he failed to include positive role models. When an author writes about another culture, he or she must be careful when developing the characterization, plot and overall images that are being portrayed.
Finally, this novel is written for low-literate readers who could improve their reading skills by reading this novel. The author is a good storyteller and he uses a writing style which defines complex words by breaking them down into suffixes and prefixes such as the word chronic, “chronic comes from the ancient Greek word chronos, meaning “time.” It means “long -lasting or permanent.” (Kowalski, 2017) In addition, this novel may interest a young adult who is a struggling reader, because he or she may identify with a character or a situation depicted. This would cause the reader to continue to read the novel improving his or her vocabulary, comprehension, and reading interest. This struggling reader may gain the confidence to read another novel in the Rapid Reads Series at a higher reading level. Low-literate readers should be participating in adult education programs to improve their reading skills, so that they can read to their children, fill out job applications, read instructions/ingredients on medicine and food labels, etc.
The publisher, Orca Book Publishers, should be recruiting black writers to write low-literate meaningful stories, fiction and non-fiction, about African Americans. Black people are not homogeneous; they are included in various socioeconomic groups, educational levels, religions, family structures, etc. White authors should not be writing our stories, and getting paid for it, especially when they are portraying stereotypical images.
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers/Rapid Reads Series.
Copyright: 2017.
Genre: Adult Fiction, Low – Literate Reader/Reading Level: 2.8.
Fiction.
Mellard, D., Woods, K. & Fall, E. (2011). Assessment and instruction of
Oral reading fluency among adults with low literacy. Adult Basic
Education & Literacy, 5(1), 3-14.
Reviewed by Jacqueline T. Small, MLIS, M.ED, Author
Website: https://www.classicblacknovels.com
The main character is named, Rasheed and he is only sixteen-years old. The author, William Kowalski, wrote this novel in first person and he uses the main character’s voice to narrate his emotions, his feelings about his living environment and his dreams for his future.
Rasheed is a young man who lives in a dysfunctional family. His mother is a drug addict and his sister, Daneeka, who is now nineteen years old is disabled due to a gunshot wound, which happened ten years ago. The author does not explain the characterization of Rasheed in detail, because the reader does not know why he does not attend school, why he does not call child protective services on his mother like other kids do or why he commits petty crimes to eat.
Rasheed never attends school, instead he visits a local university where he feels safe, and observes the students, fantasizing that the grass is greener on the other side. He never met his father, so he does not know whether he is dead or alive. According to the leader of a local gang, the Locals, named Boss, his father used to be a member.
In Rasheed’s world you must belong somewhere such as a gang to be protected or just to earn money to survive. He is constantly being recruited by the Locals. The author didn’t introduce any positive role models of color to show a balance such as other teenagers who attend their local high school, have friendships and achieve and parents who are there for their children emotionally and physically, are gainfully employed and encourage their children to be the best that they can be. Instead, the author used stereotypes about black people such as gang membership, theft, drug addiction, etc. The only positive characters inserted into this novel were whites such as the female college student who comes to his rescue when he is harassed by a university police officer and that same male university police officer who later shows some interest in Rasheed.
The reason that this novel is not written authentically is because the author is white and he is attempting to write our story, but he failed to include positive role models. When an author writes about another culture, he or she must be careful when developing the characterization, plot and overall images that are being portrayed.
Finally, this novel is written for low-literate readers who could improve their reading skills by reading this novel. The author is a good storyteller and he uses a writing style which defines complex words by breaking them down into suffixes and prefixes such as the word chronic, “chronic comes from the ancient Greek word chronos, meaning “time.” It means “long -lasting or permanent.” (Kowalski, 2017) In addition, this novel may interest a young adult who is a struggling reader, because he or she may identify with a character or a situation depicted. This would cause the reader to continue to read the novel improving his or her vocabulary, comprehension, and reading interest. This struggling reader may gain the confidence to read another novel in the Rapid Reads Series at a higher reading level. Low-literate readers should be participating in adult education programs to improve their reading skills, so that they can read to their children, fill out job applications, read instructions/ingredients on medicine and food labels, etc.
The publisher, Orca Book Publishers, should be recruiting black writers to write low-literate meaningful stories, fiction and non-fiction, about African Americans. Black people are not homogeneous; they are included in various socioeconomic groups, educational levels, religions, family structures, etc. White authors should not be writing our stories, and getting paid for it, especially when they are portraying stereotypical images.
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers/Rapid Reads Series.
Copyright: 2017.
Genre: Adult Fiction, Low – Literate Reader/Reading Level: 2.8.
Fiction.
Mellard, D., Woods, K. & Fall, E. (2011). Assessment and instruction of
Oral reading fluency among adults with low literacy. Adult Basic
Education & Literacy, 5(1), 3-14.
Reviewed by Jacqueline T. Small, MLIS, M.ED, Author
Website: https://www.classicblacknovels.com
January 28, 2018
Kowalski, William Jumped In, 104 pgs. Raven Books (Orca Book), 2017. Language – PG (21 swears, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – PG;
Life is dependent on lots of factors out of anyone’s control—for example, being born in the territory of the E Street Locals gang, having a chronically depressed mother, or having black skin. Rasheed is smarter than his skin makes him look, and he yearns for a life like the ones in the old TV shows he watches. Unfortunately, the white cops and black gang members don’t care about what Rasheed wants; they do what they want and make everyone else bend to their wills.
Jumped In is a quick read, and Rasheed is a likable character. However, Rasheed’s story does not develop very much in the hundred pages, and two conflicts are barely created before they have to start being resolved. Furthermore, I feel like the conflict with the gang members and cops was presented as the central conflict, but that was confusing when the main conflict was internal as Rasheed tried to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
MS, HS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...
Life is dependent on lots of factors out of anyone’s control—for example, being born in the territory of the E Street Locals gang, having a chronically depressed mother, or having black skin. Rasheed is smarter than his skin makes him look, and he yearns for a life like the ones in the old TV shows he watches. Unfortunately, the white cops and black gang members don’t care about what Rasheed wants; they do what they want and make everyone else bend to their wills.
Jumped In is a quick read, and Rasheed is a likable character. However, Rasheed’s story does not develop very much in the hundred pages, and two conflicts are barely created before they have to start being resolved. Furthermore, I feel like the conflict with the gang members and cops was presented as the central conflict, but that was confusing when the main conflict was internal as Rasheed tried to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
MS, HS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...
December 22, 2017
Language – PG (21 swears, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – PG; Life is dependent on lots of factors out of anyone’s control—for example, being born in the territory of the E Street Locals gang, having a chronically depressed mother, or having black skin. Rasheed is smarter than his skin makes him look, and he yearns for a life like the ones in the old TV shows he watches. Unfortunately, the white cops and black gang members don’t care about what Rasheed wants; they do what they want and make everyone else bend to their wills.
Jumped In is a quick read, and Rasheed is a likable character. However, Rasheed’s story does not develop very much in the hundred pages, and two conflicts are barely created before they have to start being resolved. Furthermore, I feel like the conflict with the gang members and cops was presented as the central conflict, but that was confusing when the main conflict was internal as Rasheed tried to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
Reviewed for http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
Jumped In is a quick read, and Rasheed is a likable character. However, Rasheed’s story does not develop very much in the hundred pages, and two conflicts are barely created before they have to start being resolved. Furthermore, I feel like the conflict with the gang members and cops was presented as the central conflict, but that was confusing when the main conflict was internal as Rasheed tried to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
Reviewed for http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
May 15, 2017
Jumped In tells the story of a young boy trying to survive in a bad neighborhood without getting jumped into a gang. The general premise of the story was good and the main character was well developed. Unfortunately, I did not like the layout as a rapid read. Though rapid reads are becoming more popular, they leave a lot to be desired. I didn't feel like there was enough background to feel connected to some of the characters. The supposed "villain" of the story was one dimensional at best, making it difficult to feel anything after his ultimate take down.
August 4, 2017
Jumped In by William Kowalski is a story about a smart young man name Rasheed who lives in a rough neighborhood and life at home is not easy either. He tries to avoid the inevitable being jumped in by the E Street Local gang. This book held my attention because it was a quick read with so much substance. The author constantly remind the reader of Rasheed’s true potential. I sympathized with the main character because he was a victim of circumstance trying to survive life at home, the streets, and his own insecurities related to race and class.
September 28, 2017
Part of the Rapid Reads branding but still suitable for high school rather than "New Adult". Direct toward your students who are looking for those gritty reads about gangs and inner city lives.
Rasheed is determined not to join the gang that is responsible for his sister being paralyzed. However, despite his best efforts, he comes to the gang's attention and he must make some difficult decisions.
Rasheed is determined not to join the gang that is responsible for his sister being paralyzed. However, despite his best efforts, he comes to the gang's attention and he must make some difficult decisions.
December 4, 2018
This is the third book I have read by William Kowalski. I didn't love this book as much as Something Noble and The Barrio Kings, but yet, at some point I found myself right in there with him, pressed between a rock and a hard place and hoping he would find a way to make it out unscathed.
A writer who can make the reader feel that deeply invested in a story of 100 pages or less, is indeed gifted.
On to my next Kowalski read.
A writer who can make the reader feel that deeply invested in a story of 100 pages or less, is indeed gifted.
On to my next Kowalski read.
August 6, 2017
This didn't have the depth of character development that other Kowalski books have. It is fine, but lacks the moral ambiguity his characters typically deal with.
October 11, 2017
so i like the book because a cool book
April 4, 2018
Fantastic book. Liked it from the very start. Funny and relevant.
May 1, 2018
Read for work. A solid choice for hi-lo urban fiction -- Kowalski seems to be aiming for a similar niche to Patrick Jones. Ends optimistically.
July 7, 2024
Does a great job at describing the life of a lot of black Americans realities in the US. Quick read , I believe it’s worth it
December 3, 2024
Such a good quick read! Wish it was a little longer but, I was definitely locked in.
February 8, 2025
A great book to understand the mindset of a brown boy from the hood. The unexpectedly "deep" happy ending made me cry tears of joy.
April 11, 2017
I was given an advance copy in return for an honest review.
Quick read (under an hour). I honestly wish it was longer. I liked the main character and think this should have been longer since it has a current and very relevant story to tell. I enjoyed the book even though it was a sad topic and am curious about other stories by this author. Giving 3 stars because I wanted more. That's a good thing
Quick read (under an hour). I honestly wish it was longer. I liked the main character and think this should have been longer since it has a current and very relevant story to tell. I enjoyed the book even though it was a sad topic and am curious about other stories by this author. Giving 3 stars because I wanted more. That's a good thing
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews