When I Was the Greatest

Reynolds, Jason. When I Was the Greatest. 2014. 240p. 363 mins. ISBN 978-0-553-39572-3. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Raised by a hardworking single mother, 15 years old Ali and his sister Jazz live in Bed Stuy, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. It's a hard neighborhood, one where drugs and guns are a fact of life. Instead, he's into boxing and he takes lessons with a former pro. When another boy and his family move in what is known in the neighborhood as the crack house, which happens to be next door to Ali's own brown stone apartment building, they become fast friends. That boy soon acquires the nickname Noodles from Jazz, on account of an incident that happens at their dining table, and the name sticks. 

Noodles has a brother, and he soon becomes known as Needles. Needles has Tourette's syndrome, and can't control his verbal and physical outbursts. Doris, Ali's mother, gives Needles knitting needles, and shows him how to knit, and that seems to help him remain calm and in control. Noodles has a short temper, and is very protective of his brother, but also abuses him relentlessly.

Ali, Noodles, and Needles spend a hot summer sitting on the steps of the apartment building, reading comics and talking about life. When they manage to score an invitation to Mo Mo's wild underground party, the teens are excited! However, when Needles' tick chooses the worst moment to occur, the boys find themselves in a place they shouldn't be with people who don't know them and are willing to hurt them.  Suddenly, life has become very dangerous ...

Told from Ali's perspective, the story occurs over one summer with some flashbacks. The teen boys have realistic friendships, and the female characters are in the periphery but are strong and helpful. Fans of realistic fiction will enjoy reading Ali's story and discover how he gets out of the mess he's created.