Denise Daley (Children's Literature)
Three the hard way. Three girls who are best friends. Two who were childhood friends and a third whose freedom is the envy of the others. The three eleven-year-old girls share a common admiration for the music of Tupac Shakur. All of them identify with Tupac’s music and lyrics, but free-spirited D Foster seems to sadly connect with Tupac’s music more than her friends. The two other girls slowly realize that they really do not know much about D Foster, and they gradually learn that her freedom is not something to be envied. Despite their seeming hardships (including, for one of the girls, having a brother in jail for a crime he did not commit), the girls begins to understand that having a stable home life makes them lucky. D Foster is a foster child who has been moved from home to home for most of her life, and she leaves her new friends as suddenly as she joined them. The shocking and sad passing of Tupac Shakur seemingly coincides with the demise of their friendship. Jacqueline Woodson, an award-winning author of many young adult books, has written another absorbing story that all readers--especially those who have felt the loss of a friendship--will identify with. 2008, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, $15.99. Ages 10 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2009)
Jacqueline Woodson offers a deep and tender look at friendship and growing up in a novel that spans almost two years in the lives of three African American girls in the mid-1990s. The story’s unnamed narrator and her best friend, Neeka, have been like sisters since infancy. They move in and out of each other’s homes with the certainty of belonging, and share angst and frustration over loving mothers who keep a tight watch over everything they do. When D Foster enters their lives, she is a complete unknown, and parts of her life remain a mystery over the next two years. D is eleven, too, but she lives with a foster mother who lets her wander the city, trusting D to stay out of trouble and come home each night. And she does. D is determined to have a future—find her Big Purpose—and that means playing by the rules. She is looking for friendship, and the two best friends find it easy to expand their hearts and embrace her. D shares their love of Tupac Shakur, whose songs speak truths they understand and dreams they hope for, and she has more freedom than either of them imagines possible for her own life. All three girls have seen and experienced much that is unfair, from D’s lengthy time in foster care to the homophobia that Neeka’s flamboyantly gay older brother Tash has had to endure (even Pac, they note, doesn’t have nice things to say about people like Tash). But all three girls are smart, sensitive, and open-hearted, and these are strengths that, together with the bond they share, fill Woodson’s novel with so much hope for their future. CCBC Category: Fiction for Children. 2008, Putnam, 153 pages, $15.99. Ages 10-14.

Virginia Bailey (Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 21, No. 4))
This is the story of a life-long friendship between two eleven-year-old girls growing up in Queens and of their inclusion of D. Foster who “roamed” into their lives, making them “Three the Hard Way.” All three share a love for the music and persona of rapper Tupac Shakur who tells stories of babies thrown away, of imprisoned mothers, wrongly imprisoned brothers, and of drug abuse and death. The girls believe that Tupac is telling much of his own story and of theirs since Deena’s brother Tash is in jail on false charges. When Tupac is shot, the girls are devastated and suffer through the news reports of his condition. He is even more of a hero to them when he survives. After his recovery, D keeps talking about everyone’s “big purpose” she says Tupac is singing about. Since the girls aren’t even allowed out of their neighborhood, they are very excited about D’s plan to take them roaming with her. When the moms are working late, D takes them on the bus to a park where she shows them an amphitheatre in the moonlight that seems a magical place to them. Tupac is shot again and dies. D’s mother comes for her, and the others feel the loss of their daring friend but are cheered by the knowledge that they will always be connected by their memories of the time spent together as they all turned twelve and then thirteen. Injustices addressed and some of the language used in this work make it a difficult read, but the family and neighborhood caring about each other helps balance the negative. This book is recommended for mature middle schoolers. Girls especially will relate to the connection the three feel with the musician and his music. Fiction. Grades 7-9. 2008, Putnam, 153p., $15.99. Ages 12 to 15.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 23))
The summer of 1995 brings D Foster away from her foster home to the block where 12-year-olds Neeka and the unnamed narrator reside. The three girls find themselves bonding over parental restrictions and Tupac Shakur, and their developing friendship encourages the girls to embark on a forbidden bus ride off the block. After D returns to her mother's care, Neeka and the narrator find that not even Tupac's death can hold the three of them together. With her colloquial and gentle style, Woodson weaves a tale of burgeoning friendship among three New York girls. Blending equal parts bravado and emotional frailty, D's presence adds a lively element to the solid relationship of the two longtime friends; D quickly becomes the mischievous voice encouraging rebellion. Though authentic, the secondary plot with Neeka's brother breaks the continuity of the story. The unnamed-narrator conceit is odd for Woodson; her work needs no such devices to encourage multiple reads. Walkmans and bootleg tapes solidify the setting of the previous decade, bringing added authenticity to Woodson's satisfying tale of childhood friendship. 2008, Putnam, 160p, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, January 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 1))
Woodson, Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist, has written some of our best YA fiction, and this novel is no exception. Her spare prose is like poetry, with a rhythm that reflects the speech patterns of the African American community. She has written of African American young people from every corner of our culture: small town, middle class, suburban, and urban. The three young teenage girls in After Tupac and D Foster live in an African American neighborhood in Queens. The narrator, with her single mother, is trying to make sense of her world and her friends. Her best friend Neeka is from a large, church-going family, with an older brother who is hoping for a basketball scholarship to Georgetown and another older brother, gay, who is locked up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The narrator’s other best friend is D, a foster child, who has green eyes and more freedom to roam the streets than her friends. The three adore Tupac and listen to his music all the time (it’s 1995) and talk about his life and the danger he is in. Then D’s white mother shows up and takes her away to upstate New York, and Tupac dies of gunshot wounds. The narrator’s voice is an observer’s voice, aching with loss and confusion, yet secure in her mother’s love and in her closeness with Neeka. The reader can well imagine that 12 years later, that young girl is a woman who has gotten herself through college and is finding her own Big Purpose, as D promised. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JSA*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2008, Penguin, Putman, 153p., $16.99. Ages 12 to adult.

Julie Burwinkel (Library Media Connection, October 2008)
Neeka and the never-named narrator are best friends. One day the mysterious D appears and the girls are intrigued by her unusual looks and free spirit. D’s foster mother, while strict, does allow D some freedom, and D likes to roam. The girls envy D’s freedom, while she envies the structure and boundaries of their stable lives. D is especially taken with the rapper Tupac Shakur. The timeframe of the novel is bounded by two events in Tupac’s life, when he is critically wounded in November 1994 and his murder in September 1996. The main characters age from awkward 11-year-olds to teenagers on the brink of high school. D’s mother returns, having cleaned up her act, and feels ready to be a mom again. D leaves, but when Tupac is killed, she contacts the girls one last time and they share their grief. There are so many positive aspects to this work including the portrayal of loving, stable African-American families. One of the troubling points is the adoration the girls have for Tupac. Having said this, I still think that the strong portrayal of family and friends makes this a thought-provoking and exalting read. Highly Recommended. 2008, G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Young Readers Group), 160pp., $15.99 hc.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, January 2008 (Vol. 61, No. 5).)
The unnamed narrator of this coming-of-age tale is twelve years old and safely ensconced in her Queens neighborhood when a new girl shows up and makes the narrator and her best friend, Neeka, see things in a new light. Calling herself D Foster because she has grown up in foster care, the new girl comes to represent for the other two some part of themselves that they’ve never quite understood—the part that wants to wander, the part that feels like there is a world out there beyond their block that might also be a home. The three girls connect through double dutch, hanging out, and Tupac Shakur, with whom D identifies at a deep level. Because of D and Tupac, the girls begin to wonder what their Big Purpose is, and Shakur becomes a sort of beacon around which the entire neighborhood, mothers included, takes soundings with regard to their future. D floats in and out of their lives—lives that are already full of family highs and lows, like Neeka’s brother’s scholarship to Georgetown, the narrator’s absent father, and Neeka’s other brother’s incarceration—yet both girls feel as though D fills in their gaps while preserving her own secrets. Like Woodson’s most recent Feathers (BCCB 4/07), this is light on plot points and heavy on a kind of self-reflection tinged with melancholy; this narrator and the friends and folks in her neighborhood, however, are much more grounded and realistic in both context and language. The narrator’s thoughts on D’s place in her life—part best friend, part enigma—offer an insightful reminder of the way we find bits of ourselves in others, and the way our identities are a tapestry of the people and places we love, even if we don’t entirely understand them Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, Putnam, 160p.; Reviewed from galleys, $16.99. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2008)
The mothers of the narrator and her best friend don't allow them to leave their block. The girls are drawn to D, whose foster mother lets her "roam." It's 1994, and the main characters are captivated by rapper Tupac Shakur's legal troubles and near-murder. Woodson eloquently lays out what Tupac means to the trio and their community in this ruminative, bittersweet novel. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2008, Putnam, 151pp, 15.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Mary Ann Darby (VOYA, February 2008 (Vol. 30, No. 6))
As they search for their Big Purpose in life, one of the three girls who call themselves Three the Hard Way narrates the tale of Neeka, D, and herself in a Queens neighborhood during the mid-1990s as they become teenagers. The music and tribulations of Tupac weave in and out of the narrative, but most of all it is the story of D, who appears one day and becomes part of a tight-knit friendship. D's story emerges in carefully guarded bits and pieces: She has been bounced among foster homes, her mother taking her when she is able. D feels a connection with Tupac, whose songs about pain echo the craziness of D's life. When D is with her "girls," her life is the best it has ever been, but the summer before Tupac is killed, her mama comes to take her away. As always, Woodson's lyrical writing rings true. Not only does she understand the beauty, confusion, and pain of growing up but also the impact of important music as adolescents search for answers to life's conundrums. Woodson interweaves other food for thought: Neeka's oldest brother Tash is gay and in prison, and her second-oldest brother lives to play basketball. Neeka's family is large and noisy, but the narrator lives only with her mama. One of the most poignant scenes in the story is a family trip to visit Tash at prison. Woodson creates a thought-provoking story about the importance of acceptance and connections in life. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2008, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 160p., $15.99. Ages 11 to 15.