There Goes the Neighborhood by Jade Adia (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: There Goes the Neighborhood by Jade Adia Wesley Jacques Adia, Jade There Goes the Neighborhood. Disney/Hyperion, 2023 [432p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781368084321 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781368084338 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 7-12 Despite losing a friend to a stray bullet in their South LA neighborhood in fifth grade, best friends Rhea, Zeke, and Malachi love their community—it's their home, with everything that entails. Unfortunately, the area is changing, and a difficult lesson on gentrification poses a new threat to the group of Black and brown fifteen-year-olds as Zeke and his family are to be evicted from their apartment to make way for luxury developments and wealthy newcomers. Rhea is determined to prevent this, so she devises a plan equal part brilliant, cynical, and dangerous in [End Page 246] how well it takes off: start SOSI, a wholly not real but really impactful new gang. Apparently, a social media campaign, a strategic use of fireworks, some well-placed tags, and the help of some new friends—which Rhea is reluctant to accept—are all the group needs to scare investors off. When a white man is killed, however, the fake gang very quickly turns into a real problem, and the friends are pulled into murder mystery that reveals the ways corporate interests and racist policies have always been unseen stakeholders in gang violence. Rhea's believable narration captures her (justifiable) fury at the forces displacing her community, and it also reveals the tenderness that drives her to a misguided plan to protect her home at all costs. This is a smart and intimate reflection on community that impressively makes sure to give its fifteen-year-old characters awkward first kisses and meme-able senses of humor despite the palpably high stakes. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois