Tight by Torrey Maldonado

I didn't plan on picking up Tight by Torrey Maldonado this month, but I basically had to for work. The language arts department at my school has decided to read this book in class next year with all of our students, so, being my usual overachiever self, I wanted to get ahead and start planning for it. I had never heard of this novel or this author before now, so I had no clue what to expect when I started. All I knew was the reasoning behind why this book was chosen--it had a diverse cast, it would fit in with our study of character development, and it would be relatable to the kids' lives. Whole-class reads can be a little dicey sometimes; you have to use a book with pretty widespread appeal, or a lot of your students will just completely disengage. I began reading hopeful that Tight would be interesting enough to hold the attention of a typical class of eighth graders.  

Tight follows a sixth grader named Bryan. He lives with his parents and sister in a New York City apartment. His father struggles with anger issues and is in and out of prison on assault charges. As the story begins, he's been recently released on probation. Bryan's relationship with him cycles between admiration and fear. He gets on much better with his mother, who he is extremely close to. She has high expectations for him, and his grades and general behavior reflect that. He's a good kid that dislikes drama and prefers to sit quietly and read his comics most of the time. 

At the start of the novel, Bryan's usually quiet life is disrupted by the arrival of a new kid at his school, Mike. The boys bond quickly over their love of superheroes and drawing and become fast friends. At first, Bryan loves hanging out with Mike and considers him to be a brother. After some time passes, however, he starts to realize that Mike isn't as great of a friend as he first appeared to be. He makes a lot of unwise choices, like cutting school and hopping turnstiles in the subway, and he begins pressuring Bryan to do the same. He also has a jealous streak, and makes quite a few mean and unsettling comments to Bryan and others. Realizing that his new friend is headed down the wrong path, Bryan must decide if he wants to go along with Mike's choices, or chart his own course based on what he knows is right.

This is a pretty simple, short coming of age tale. I know from looking at online reviews of this novel that I am in the minority with this opinion, but I honestly didn't love it. I thought that the plot was slow and lacking action. It was very repetitive too. Most of the novel felt like a long cycle of Mike being a negative influence and Bryan thinking about Mike being a negative influence.  There's a lot of slang in the book too, and while it is realistic to how kids speak, it was so present in the text that it became almost comical. I talk to kids all day, and while they certainly do use a lot of informal language, it's not every word of every sentence. I read a fair bit of middle grades fiction, and this just didn't feel like anything special to me. 

That being said though, I am certainly not the target audience for this novel, and just because I wasn't a fan does not mean that it isn't a great read for kids. I actually think many middle grade students will enjoy Tight. Bryan is certainly a relatable character for middle school aged boys, and his relationships with his friends and family are more layered than you might expect from such a short little book. The conflicts between him and Mike closely mirror what many students face in their own social lives. The diversity of characters is great as well. There are lots of positives to this novel, it just didn't reach me. That's okay because it wasn't meant to. This is just not a book with a lot of crossover appeal for older audiences.

So ultimately, my personal rating for Tight is a 2/5. I thought it was pretty slow and repetitive. However, I can see kids enjoying it. The prospect of teaching this to my classes next year is a little daunting; I'm not sure how they will react. It's hard to predict which stories kids will be engaged in sometimes. Hopefully they will see themselves in these characters and enjoy it! I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Total Books Read in 2021: 25