The Kid is a nominal sequel to Push by Sapphire. Published in 2011, the novel received mixed reviews from readers and critics alike. The story follows Precious Jones' young son, called Abdul by his mother (his name changes several times through the story), from the ages of nine through eighteen as he navigates Harlem's corrupt and nightmarish foster system. Told in a "post-modern," broken, first-person present-tense narrative style, the book takes a searing look at many complex social problems, not the least of which is race.
Tropes found (and frequently subverted) in the book include:
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Precious was only 17 when she had Abdul (and much younger when she gave birth to Mongo, her first Child by Rape). Mary was 16 or so when she gave birth to Precious, and her mother Toosie was only 10 when she had Mary.
- Anachronism Stew: Precious's death and funeral take place in 1997. The first scene in the book mentions Google and BlackBerry. Google was registered as a domain in September, 1997 but didn't gain popularity as a search engine for several years, and BlackBerry was still in the pager stages at the time.
- Angry Dance: Both Abdul's expressing himself through dance and the underlying themes in My Lai's routine.
- Blaming the Victim: Toosie, while speaking to Abdul, admits this attitude towards Precious, as she doesn't believe Carl could have impregnated her twice if she didn't want him in some way. It's even more jarring when you realize Toosie herself was raped and had a child as a result of said rape.
- Child by Rape: Abdul and Mary both.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: Abdul's study of dance seems to be the one thing that keeps him from spiraling into mental illness and addiction.
- Department of Child Disservices: They start by putting Abdul in a foster home where one of the other children beats him senseless. Then they lose his paperwork, so instead of being temporarily placed at the orphanage, he gets placed there semi-permanently. It gets worse from there.
- Depraved Bisexual: Abdul comes across this way sometimes.
- Doorstop Baby: During the rehearsal sequence, we find out this is My Lai's back story. She was found on a church doorstop on Christmas Eve.
- Inbred and Evil
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: Subverted rather horribly with the character My Lai. Her adopted name is Noel, but she takes her stage name from the massacre
. - "Not If They Enjoyed It" Rationalization: "Love. He loved them. They loved it."
- Orphanage of Fear: Zig-zagged. While there is terrible abuse going on, Abdul also receives a decent education and encouragement in his classes.
- Pedophile Priest: The brothers, particularly Brother John and Brother Samuel.
- Raised by Grandparents: Subverted. After they sort out the paperwork, Abdul is moved into Toosie's care. He only stays there a short time, however. Once she tells him about her Dark and Troubled Past, he can't take it anymore and leaves. A straighter case with Precious's first baby Mongo. However, it's never clear what happened to Mongo. It's possible, even likely that she died, but Toosie's an even more unreliable narrator than Abdul.
- Rape as Drama: Or almost as But for Me, It Was Tuesday.
- Time Skip: From section to section. The first skip takes us from Abdul being nine to age thirteen. The second from thirteen to seventeen. The third could be two years or could be twenty-one days, as stated in the text.
- Unreliable Narrator: And how. Abdul's psyche is broken and he is possibly mentally ill.
- Where da White Women At?: Subverted. Abdul, having grown up masturbating to Britney Spears and the white girls in porn, finds he doesn't really like it when he sleeps with a white woman.
