Secret Saturdays takes place in the Red Hook Projects of Brooklyn,  New York,  the home neighborhood of the author, Torrey Maldonado.  His intimate familiarity with the location resonates throughout the book.  The language of the book  has a genuine, honest quality that will appeal to readers looking to understanding of the pressures of teenagers growing  up and the challenge of maintaining a friendship when trust is broken.

The main character, Justin, is best friends with the coolest guy in school, Sean.  Sean the Man is mad popular with his ability to rap the best  “dissing”.  The best disser is king of the hill and is respected and not hassled.  Sean and Justin share a talent for rapping as a way to express feelings and ideas.  But their friendship is tested as Sean hides where he goes on Saturdays, which is to visit his father in jail.

Maldonado’s language choice is true to the setting of the book and the age of the characters.  Even though the age of the boys is 12, the voice will ring true to older students.  It is lively and colorful, interspersed with rapping and jive talk.  The desire to be successful in school and to have a close relationship with their moms is an uplifting aspect to the book. Introspective dialogue about the  difficulty for young men to be emotionally sensitive gives the book a dimension beyond the story line.

Middle school and high school students will relate to the language of this book  as well as a  compassion for the challenges that face young people today.  Recommended for middle and high school and public libraries.