Black and White

Volponi’s novel tells the story of Marcus, who is Black, and Eddie, who is White. They are also lifelong best friends, high school seniors, and stars of their high school basketball team—each one destined for fame and glory. Until they decide they need to engage in petty theft in order to afford sneakers, senior dues, prom fees, and other “incidental” expenses, which turn out to be not so negligible for working class students growing up in New York City.

Inevitably, one of their crimes goes wrong and a man is shot. Marcus is arrested and shoulders the blame for the crime, creating tension with his best friend, his family, school administration, and the other members of the basketball team.

Narrated from the alternating show more perspectives of Marcus and Eddie, the novel examines issues of friendship, race, ambition, guilt, and loyalty. While these themes might sound somewhat heavy for a Young Adult novel, Volponi handles them well, telling the story with a matter-of-face realism. And although the symbolism of the co-protagonists’ nicknames is rather heavy-handed, the characters themselves are genuine, and their plight is all too believable. show less

A revealing novel about dealing with the consequences of one's actions. You keep waiting for Eddie to do the right thing but the conclusion is open-ended, guaranteeing a rousing book group discussion. A good pick for reluctant readers.

The book Black and White is a very good read. The book starts off in a harsh area where the only way to get out of the ghetto is to get a scholorship from a sport or be a musician. The main characters of the story were Marcus and Eddie, best friends from middle school and they came up to be two very talented basketball players bound to go to a good college then to the NBA but, they made one horrible decision that costed Marcus's Scholorship. They decided to start robbing people so they could afford to go to there senior field trip but, one day it went wrong when Eddie had to shoot one of the people they were trying to rob. The problem with this is that the person was a local bus man that knew Marcus, within the next few days Marcus got show more caught and was faced with a big problem take the charge or tell on his long time friend Eddie. I think the book was very good and would recommend it to anyone it explained alot of the racial prejudice in the court system and gave a very good example of the many challenges growing up in the ghetto. show less

I COULD FEEL THE GUN PULSING IN MY HAND. I was very engaged with this story the whole time because of the suspense. I don't normally like to read books but this book was good and I would read it when I was done with my work. While I was reading I liked the setting and how it takes place at a normal high school.

One thing I like about this book is that you see Black (Marcus) and White (Eddie) perspectives and feelings. Like how Black has given up trying to fight the case but White is mad at him because he feels it's like giving up.

I think this book is about consequences because during the conflict Black and White are robbing a guy and then the gun goes off, almost killing the guy they were robbing. Then for the rest of the story, they are show more both trying to hide from the cops and not go to jail. However, when they got caught Black couldn’t play basketball then he could not attend college and his future of playing basketball in the NBA is ruined because of his actions.

I recommend this novel,” Black And White”, because of the characterization and how they show both Black and White viewpoints during high school and the conflict like how White heart was pounding trying to hide the gun and that Black was in court trying to fight the case.. But if you're not paying attention you could forget whose viewpoint you're on. Also, this novel shows Black and White's feelings like how Black was a little mad at White because he was going to jail but White wasn't. So if you like to see multiple perspectives and feelings this book might be for you. show less

LIS 566 classic companion book
This would make a great companion novel for Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. It shows the American justice system from the perspective of both black and white allowing students to recognize what has and has not changed from the time that To Kill a Mockingbird takes place using believable and round characters for both the boys and their families. While the narrative flips between two perspectives the voice really does not change—the characters are too similar. This may be a conscious choice to show how similar the characters are, or it may be a strategy to not alienate reluctant readers, but I found that it detracted from the work as a whole.

Great story, and not just for adolescent males although they will enjoy it. Details how easy it is for good kids to end up in bad situations and how it affects friendships and family. Well written.

Marcus and Eddie were best friends. They were together all time; even when they weren't on the baskeball team they both love. They were so close everyone called them Black and White. One day they decided to hold up a man at gun point to buy a new pair of sneakers when the gun went off. The book tells the two different stories of a white male in the justice system and black male. Sparks interesting discussion and is good for relucant readers.