Waiting on Wednesday: When We Was Fierce by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine in which we share the titles we can't wait to release.

When We Was Fierce by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. 400 p. Candlewick Press, August 9, 2016. 9780763679378.

Publisher synopsis: In an endless cycle of street violence and retribution, is there any escape? A powerful verse novel by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo.

We wasn't up to nothin'
new really.
Me and Jimmy, Catch and Yo-Yo.
We just comin' down the street keepin' cool.
We was good at stayin' low
Especially around the Wooden Spoon.
Guys hang around there, they got teeth on ’em
Sharper than broken glass.
Words that slit ya’from chin to belly. And that’s just their words.

Fifteen-year-old Theo isn’t looking for trouble, but when he and his friends witness a brutal attack on Ricky-Ricky, an innocent boy who doesn’t know better than to walk right up to the most vicious gang leader around, he’s in trouble for real. And in this neighborhood, everything is at stake. In a poignant, unflinching novel of survival told largely in street dialect, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo enters the lives of teenagers coming of age in the face of spiraling violence among gangs, by police, and at home.

I really enjoyed Fat Angie a few years ago and keep meaning to look up Ms. Charlton-Trujillo's earlier work. I'm also blown away by her commitment to bring books to at-risk youth through her non-profit, Never Counted Out.