When We Ride

While college-bound Mexican American Diego plays by the rules, Lawson, who is white, deals drugs to get by. Despite their perceived differences, both grew up in financially unstable homes without their fathers, a similarity that binds them together. As such, Diego feels it’s his responsibility to persuade Lawson to pursue a less dangerous lifestyle; he bargains, cajoles, and even threatens Lawson as they drive around in Diego’s 1980 Cadillac DeVille. As the work cycles on, Diego struggles with the idea of embarking on a future that could require abandoning his best friend. Using simple language with short lines and sparkling imagery (“fluorescent lights/ that break the dark of midnight”), Ogle (Abuela, Don’t Forget Me) portrays the boys’ circumstances with gritty frankness, positing on how, for some families, hard choices don’t feel like choices at all: the money Lawson makes is the only thing paying his and his mother’s rent. In this riveting, at times heartbreaking verse novel, Ogle delivers an affecting portrait of two “ride or die” friends in dire circumstances for whom the phrase becomes scarily literal. Ages 14–up. Agent: Brent Taylor, Triada US. (Mar.)