The Mouse Rap (PB) (1992)

You can call me Mouse, 'cause that's my tag I'm into it all, everything's my bag my ace is Styx, he'll always do Add Bev and Sheri, and you got my crew

...and a crew it is! For fourteen-year-old Mouse, this summer is anything but boring. His father, who checked out from the family eight years ago, is now trying to make a comeback as a dad. Beverly, a new girl from California, seems to like locking lips with the Mouse--but she seems to like other guys, as well. Sheri is trying to persuade the gang to join a dance contest. And there's a rumor that a lot of money--the loot from a '30's bank heist, to be exact--is hidden somewhere in an abandoned Harlem building, and you know the Mouse is determined to get a piece of that action.

It's summer in Harlem, and The Mouse (as he calls himself) and his friends look beyond dance contests and basketball for diversion.The rumor of a huge cash stash in an abandoned building left by [a 1930s] gangster offers possibilities. . . . Tightly integrated subplots strengthen an already well-crafted novel. Myers deftly paints a humor-laced picture of Harlem in sparkling prose, with characters that have universal appeal. --BL.

1991 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
Children's Choices for 1991 (IRA/CBC)
Children's Books of 1990 (Library of Congress)
1991 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Parenting Honorable Mention, Reading Magic Award