The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Street Literature

Irvin (library science, East Carolina Univ.) reinforces why street lit remains popular among patrons in this update to her 2011 guide. Under the umbrella of urban fiction, street lit encompasses both fictional stories of low-income city dwellers and nonfiction books about the effects of poverty in urban areas. Although the genre has been around since the 1600s as broadsides, it didn’t become formatted as books until the 19th century. Street lit’s popularity increased in the 1990s as grittier fictional and actual stories about urban Black and Latine residents highlighted issues similar to what their teen and new adult readers were experiencing. Accessible chapters about the history and characteristics of street lit clearly define the differences between it and other types of urban fiction. Irvin provides ample examples of classics (pre-1990s), modern classics (1990s–2000s), and contemporary works, through which she demonstrates how library workers can develop inclusive collections, conduct effective reader’s advisory, and create engaging displays and programming.