TAKE BACK THE BLOCK is THE MOST AMAZING STORY IVE READ IN SUCH A LONG TIME! I was honored in receiving an e-arc. It had everything I wanted: a strong message, powerful characters, and a realistic atmosphere. Chrystal did a phenomenal job writing this story. There is a message in these pages that everyone needs to read. I think this sorry will push the genre forward!

I loved this book. Wes is such an appealing character and the story explores important topics without being pedantic or preachy. Highly recommend.

I have a soft spot for MG novels. People don’t realize how much skill it takes to navigate adult topics with young adults. This novel deals with gentrification, and how 6th grader Wes handles it when it comes knocking at his door. This has a distinct preteen voice, and is perfect for middle schoolers.

TAKE BACK THE BLOCK is a fast-paced and exciting story about one boy's growing awareness of social justice. I'm so impressed by the voice in this novel! Twelve-year-old Wes feels like a real boy to me, with real worries about his friends and his neighborhood. His growth, from someone in the beginning who cares most about his shoes and clothes and video games, to a socially-aware and strong leader among his neighbors and classmates, is phenomenal! The writing style is highly accessible, and middle-grade readers will learn about gentrification and social injustice without even realizing they're learning. A powerful, timely read.

Thanks to the publisher for an e-arc.

I loved this book! Giles does such a great job of building a story that you cannot put down. I loved reading along and seeing how this young boy made such an impactful change to his community. I can't wait to read this to my kids.

This story is about a group of middle school friends who are living in an older neighborhood that has been targeted for gentrification. The characters are well developed and have a wide variety of interests so lots of kids will be able to connect to them. The plot around gentrification is very timely and will resonate with many communities.

I absolutely adored this book!
Cool, swaggerific Wes is a relatable character that everyone will want to be friends with. He is an authentic portrayal of any middle-schooler concerned about their clothes, managing clashing best friends and trying to make it through all of their school assignments in one piece. Wes's voice is spot on–the dialogue is rich and funny, and we immediately root for him when he turns from a carefree tween to a hardcore activist to save his beloved neighbourhood.
The author does a fabulous job at describing the feel and atmosphere of Kensington Oaks, and showing how a neighbourhood and its residents are such an integral part of children and their identity. It was refreshing to read about a majority black close-knit community with the focus on an African American family who love and support each other, while still touching on themes of discrimination, racism and lost/stolen history.
Take Back the Block is not just an important story about the effects of gentrification, family and friendship, but it's an enjoyable, fun read. I highly recommend!
Thank you to the publisher and author for providing an eARC to this book.

When people ask me, why do you read middle-grade books? I think, from now on, instead of giving people a long-winded answer about how I think contemporary middle-grade stories offer a window and mirror to the issues that young people face today, I’ll just hand them a copy of Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles – because yes, it really is that good.

You may not have heard of Take Back the Block, which is why I am so excited to tell you all about this incredible book. It follows Wes, a Black boy who would rather hang out with his friends and play video games than follow his mum to yet another protest. But when a real estate developer makes a compelling offer to buy the houses in Wes’s neighbourhood to build fancy apartments and shops, Wes realises that he has the power to stand up for what he believes in and protect what is important to him.

There are so many things that I loved about Take Back the Block, but I believe the reason why this book is just so unquestionably good was how this book was just so brilliantly balanced. Though I want to say that Take Back the Block is about gentrification and activism, it’s also a story about growing up, grappling with change, family life, how friendships change, and just trying to get through middle school while completing a huge class project. Everything in this book, and in the same vein, everything in Wes’s life, plays a meaningful role in the story but also are equal parts important in Wes’s life. Readers will feel pulled into Wes’s world, which makes the story even more engaging, interesting, and also just so much more relatable.

There were three things that I loved about Take Back the Block. Let’s talk about the first one: Wes himself. I try to avoid hyperbole when I write reviews, but I genuinely think that Wes is one of the coolest main characters I’ve read, ever. I utterly adore Wes; love that he’s a kid who is out there just trying to do his best and do right by people, that he was kind but also kind of shy and prides in having great style as well! But above all, I just love that Wes gets to be a kid; he gets to learn, he gets to reflect on change and how that affects him, he gets to be annoyed at his friends and family, and he gets to just… be an imperfect yet earnest young person going through life. And I really loved that.

The second thing that I loved was the story’s amazing, empathetic, yet accessible exploration of gentrification. I didn’t know what gentrification meant until I was well into adulthood; it’s a complicated and fraught topic with a lot of ‘layers’ to its implications. In saying that though, I felt that Take Back the Block did an amazing job at exploring the impact and implications of gentrification, in a way that was easy to understand, relatable (as everything is seen and understood from Wes’s perspective), and fair as well. In other words, I think Giles did a truly outstanding job at explaining and exploring gentrification in a way that readers of all ages can understand – and I think that makes the book such a treasure.

I appreciated that the story reflected on the different ways that gentrification is perceived and understood - why it may actually be appealing to poorer families, why they do end up moving away – and challenges the perceived benefits in a gentle and thoughtful way. Something that the story raises is how ‘gentrification is the new segregation’; prior to reading this, I hadn’t thought of gentrification that way before, but the way that the story handles and examines this idea was really interesting and insightful. Indeed, I thought that Take Back the Block was not only a fun and good read, but I can also guarantee that, after reading this book, readers will be thoughtful about gentrification and institutional, modern racism, and its wider social impacts (especially on people who are poor).

The third thing, which I think brings everything I love about this book together, is that Take Back the Block is ultimately an empowering story. Across the story, we see many different forms of activism; we see the loud and present activism like protesting in the community, and we also see how activism is also a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ work, such as planning, strategising, learning, and working with others. Wes, in particular, grows across the book and I loved that he gets creative with his own activism. I firmly believe that Take Back the Block is the sort of story that will inspire the activists and leaders of tomorrow.

MY CONCLUSION: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Take Back the Block is a phenomenal, empowering, and timely story and it is one of my favourite reads of 2020. This is a book that I’ll be recommending to everyone and anyone – for its fantastic and rounded portrayal of a young boy’s life who grows into his activism that feels so genuine, real, and relatable – and I genuinely cannot wait for all of you to pick this up next month.

Thanks for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Take Back the Block. It's a timely and important story, beautifully told.

YES, YES, and YES. All elementary and middle school libraries and classroom libraries need this debut from Giles. Wes Henderson is a little anxious about the start of the school year. He'll be in sixth grade and wants nothing more than to make sure his outfits are spot on. He has the best style in school, and he doesn't want to worry about anything else, but his parents are always dragging him to protests. School starts off in a way that he was not expecting, too. He has a friend who is slowly distancing himself, another who is moving to an uppity school, and another who is now living in a rough hotel. What gets even worse is a real estate developer makes an offer to buy Kensington Oaks—Wes' neighborhood. No one is taking immediate action (not even the parents), so it is up to Wes and his friends to do something. A mix of Black Joy, activism, justice, community, family, and friendship. Such a refreshing read that gives hope! I will book talk and share this book like crazy!

I really enjoyed this book. Wes' voice is strong and engaging, and I loved how he went from being a kid without much interest in activism to getting into it when it come to his home. I liked the friendships too, and how things may change (it's tough! especially in middle school). I did think his switch from not being into activism to being into it was pretty fast, but that was so minor. Short chapters, great characters...and perfect for fans of A GOOD KIND OF TROUBLE by Lisa Moore Ramee. Also GREAT cover!

This book was a great read! It was interesting! It is about a subject that is not overdone in the middle grade world. The characters are likable.

This book was such a fun read. I was attached to the main character as soon as I started to read. Wes and his friends are starting to drift apart as they are dealing with the gentrification of their neighborhood. This would be a great book to have a book club meeting around. There were so many storylines that are relatable with students or adults. I think the author did a great job of making characters that readers wanted to read about and care about.

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! I adore Wes and feel like this is a great book for kids to aid in conversations about activism. I'm really looking forward to more titles by this author. I highly recommend this title!

I read an advanced copy of Take Back the Block. It’s a sweet debut featuring best-dressed Wes and his ride or die crew. Wes, like many kids his age, is big hearted and well intentioned, but sometimes a little self-centered. His friends begin moving away one by one, and at first Wes feels helpless to stop it. With the encouragement of his family and teacher, he finds his own voice and his own way to challenge gentrification and hopefully, take back his block.

Wes is more concerned about starting middle school than he is about the causes for which his parents force him to attend protest marches. He'd rather get together with his friends and play video games, or start planning his outfits. Things are changing around him very quickly: his best friend, Brent, is drifting away, Mya has moved to a posh neighborhood, Takari's family is living in a hotel after losing their home, and he has a small crush on his friend Alyssa. When his Kensington Oaks neighborhood is approached by a developer hoping to turn the prime real estate near the city center into condos and coffee shops. While Wes' parents have a neighborhood meeting about the deal, they are resigned to losing the neighborhood and the home whose ownership was such an accomplishment for earlier generations. Wes, however, becomes very invested in efforts to save the area. His teacher, Mr. Baker, has a friend in the Save Our City organization, Ms. Greene, and she helps Wes and his friends formulate a plan. They plan a nostalgic block party, and think they have convinced their neighbors not to sell. Unfortunately, while Wes and Takari are cleaning up, they are approached by a police man they have never seen in the neighborhood who accuses them of trespassing. He asks them where they live, and when Takari tells the officer he lives in another neighborhood, he is forced into a police car and taken to that precinct. Because his mother is working, Wes' parents come and retrieve him. The parents talk to the boys about the incident, and suggest that there might be a case against the officer should they wish to pursue it. Takari eventually declines, since his mother thinks it will make issues worse. Both boys are shaken, and Takari's family goes to like with his grandmother two hours away. Wes keeps researching Kensington Oaks, and is using it as a topic for a presentation in Mr. Baker's class. When he comes across the fact that the neighborhood was started by a Black owner of a lumber mill, Frederic Pippin, he brings this information to Ms. Greene, who files for designating the area as a historic place. In the meanwhile, neighbors are offered even more money for their properties, and even Brent's family sells up. Will Wes be able to save his neighborhood and survive middle school?
Strengths: Wes is a realistically drawn 6th grader, who chafes at the restrictions his parents impose, struggles to keep up with the evolution of his friends, and wants desperately to keep his world from changing. His friends' lives are also well described, so we can understand why their interactions with Wes are changing. I loved that Wes' parents had high expectations and were really involved in his life; so many middle grade books have parents as unengaged, absent, or dead. The inclusion of a scene where Wes and Takari are accosted by the police was timely and important, especially since this was not the entire focus of the story. Mr. Baker is a great teacher, and the Save Our City organization (represented by Ms. Greene) was an interesting one. I loved that Wes dug deep into print resources to find information about his neighborhood, and it was easy to cheer him on as he tried to save Kensington Oaks.
Weaknesses: I wasn't entirely convinced that Wes could go so quickly from being a self-involved tween to championing his neighborhood so effectively. I also brought personal family baggage to the fighting of developers; it's not that easy to win. I had ancestors whose farm was cut in two by the Pennsylvania turnpike, family who had their streets cut in two by freeways, and plenty of relatives who were priced out of their own neighborhoods; none of them won their fights. Younger readers will have more hope that they can win this sort of battle, and gentrification has become more of a racial issue in the last fifty years.
What I really think: This has a very appealing cover and is a solid, quickly moving middle grade novel that touches on many current social issues. Give this to readers who enjoy a good evil developer story like Watson's This Side of Home, Cartaya's The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, Krone's Small Mercies. Dilloway's Five Thing About Ava Andrews, Tarpley's The Harlem Charade or King's Me and Marvin Gardens.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Can I be Wes when I grow up? I loved this middle grade novel about a strong young man fighting for the neighborhood he loves! Wes was smarter, tougher, and more caring than I could have ever hoped to be in 6th grade, loved his character so much.

TAKE BACK THE BLOCK is a timely, heartfelt (and funny!) book that tackles gentrification in an accessible way. Wes is such a richly developed and relatable middle schooler: he'd rather be playing NBA 2K than marching with his mom, but he gradually finds his own voice as he understands how the creeping changes in his neighborhood will affect him and his circle of friends. I almost hesitate to call it an "important" book because that word sounds so pedantic, but this book has so much humor and heart that young readers will find Wes and his crew as entertaining as they are inspiring. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the author and publisher for an eARC of this book.

Here’s an example of a great debut middle grade novel; it’s an excellent length at 240 pages, has short chapters, and tells a story that focuses on community and taking action to protect things that matter. It sheds light on the important issue of Black neighborhoods that are being sold and transformed into middle or upper class areas, and the history that is lost in the process.

Wes has grown up in Kensington Oaks, in the same house his mom grew up in, and that his grandfather spent ten years saving to purchase. He knows his neighbors, his friends all live here, and he’s got lots of wonderful memories from his neighborhood. But things start to change when a development group offers to buy the homes in the area to make way for new ventures. Not only does it divide the residents as people wonder what to do, but it also starts to break up Wes’s group of friends. Wes tries to bring everyone together in an effort to Take Back The Block and save it from being demolished, but even with hard work there are some changes that just can’t be prevented. Wes and his friendships are transformed, as is Kensington Oaks, in ways that no one could have predicted.

There are a lot of elements of this story that I really liked. I loved the sense of community that existed in Kensington Oaks, even when people where fighting over whether to stay or leave. Seeing a close-knit Black community in a positive light, with little crime and families who cared about their neighbors, broke many stereotypes that we often find in books. I loved that the Black police officers used to pay kids to wash their police cars, and coach the baseball teams. I also loved that the history of the neighborhood was tied to the only Black lumber mill owner, and that his legacy is remembered as the story unfolds. The characters come from very different family situations and backgrounds, so we get a chance to see a wide-range of experiences, while the group of friends maintain their connections. The involvement of Wes and his family in protests for different causes, Wes’s social studies project on a modern issue in today’s society, and his involvement with Save Our City and other aid organizations is inspiring for young readers who desperately want to find ways to bring about change.

I was reminded many times of TIGHT by Torrey Maldonado and his books that focus on young middle graders, while at the same time I thought of SO DONE by Paula Chase and her characters that dealt with Black friendships and the bonds of the neighborhood. I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading more from the author.

Take Back the Block is a great and necessary book that sheds light on the impact of gentrification on the communities and people that it's happening to. Main character Wes is a totally relatable hero kids will want to cheer on as he takes on a corporation to save his own home neighborhood. I loved how it shows that kids are empowered to fight for what they believe in, and I know it will inspire more kids to get involved in their own communities.