When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is up for the HUB Amazing Audiobook; Awesomely narrated by: Preston Butler III about an African American teen whose sister goes missing and his search for her despite his own failings. I really wanted to like Jay but Jay was his own worst enemy. People obviously care about him and he will not confide because of many reasons he thinks are true. He won't tell his grandmother who has raised him since his mother spiraled after his dad died and landed in jail---that Nicole, his sister is missing. Jay continues to make up excuses thinking he is sparing his grandmother with worries. He also has given up on his sister, and decides he is sick of her doing drugs, blowing off school off and dating the local drug dealer; when she does reach out to him, Jay shows her the "new" Jay who hangs up on her. He is a good kid who has been traumatized by his father's death, his mother's desertion, and living in a seedy part of town where you are judged "when you look like us" but he also does not know how to say what he wants and he continues the whole book to turn away others who will help him; also he is bullied by the local thugs and works at Taco Bell where the mangers expect too much and allow awful customers too much freedom. I did like this story; it is one that needs to be told but I did not like Jay's development through the whole book; I did not want to root for him; I wanted to kick him. Thankfully he does allow his bible school friend to help and if it was not for her---she was adventurous, devious when needed, and pushed Jay to be the best he could be. A great ending to a book that deals with urban problems and how law enforcement does not stick up for "missing" people---how Jay (and others like him) grew up too fast, how others make assumptions about people in their neighborhoods and schools, and how this bias continues. A must read!

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