After Tupac and D Foster

Jacqueline Woodson's Newbery Honor-winning novel, 'After Tupac and D Foster,' tells the story of two inseparable best friends in Queens whose lives are profoundly changed by the arrival of D Foster, a foster child with a vastly different background. As the girls grow from eleven into their teens, they learn about loss, resilience, and the meaning of family and friendship, with Tupac Shakur's music serving as a powerful cultural touchstone. The book gently explores themes of abandonment, foster care, and the impact of a parent's struggles, making it a thoughtful read for children navigating complex social realities and the transient nature of relationships. It's a poignant exploration of how even brief connections can leave a lasting mark.

D Foster showed up a few months before Tupac got shot that first time and left us the summer before he died.The day D Foster enters Neeka and her best friend's lives, the world opens up for them. D comes from a world vastly different from their safe Queens neighborhood, and through her, the girls see another side of life that includes loss, foster families and an amount of freedom that makes the girls envious. Although all of them are crazy about Tupac Shakur's rap music, D is the one who truly understands the place where he's coming from, and through knowing D, Tupac's lyrics become more personal for all of them.The girls are thirteen when D's mom swoops in to reclaim D—and as magically as she appeared, she now disappears from their lives. Tupac is gone, too, after another shooting; this time fatal. As the narrator looks back, she sees lives suspended in time, and realizes that even all-too-brief connections can touch deeply.