Excellent and relatable with a good message without being preachy. Real friends don’t put you down and talk you into reckless things. Peer pressure, anger issues, toxic masculinity/macho-ness (I guess? Bryan hates being called soft), and idolizing the wrong people are touched on expertly. Sometimes, the dialogue sounds the slightest bit cheesy, but I’m not super used to NYer-lingo.

I liked Bryan’s narrative. I understood his feelings and how badly he didn’t want to disappoint anyone. Yooo, that drama with Little Kev had my heart beating faster for real!

I hate how Bryan never told his parents about the train-surfing and Little Kevin mess … But then again, most kids wouldn’t tell something that guarantees trouble with your parents and the police.

Of course, with a setting in New York, there’s some nice diversity: Bryan’s Puerto-Rican, Mike is black (AfrAm (?)), and adorable Kamau is Kenyan. There’s a whole cast of black and/or latino characters.

I definitely recommend this! This is geared toward kids, but some adults need to learn this lesson! Also, it's packed full of Marvel superhero facts/trivia.