Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree

Tracy Ellison was presumably a diva in the making from the day she was born in 1971 to Dave and Patti Ellison. Tracy is the hazel eyed, honey-brown skinned beautiful young lady who headlines in the novel Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree. Tracy's story takes place in the Germantown neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1977 to the end of the 1980s. It follows Miss Tracy from elementary school all the way through her completion of high school and she is portrayed as one determined queen.

I first read this book when I was in high school, a sophomore I believe and I remember greatly enjoying it even though Tracy was one fast moving young lady when it came to exploring her sexuality and sensuality. I enjoyed reading this book then for one of the same reasons I enjoyed reading it again this year, because I am not like Tracy yet I am like her in the sense that she represents a strong willed young woman.

Although she is a fictional character, she is an accurate representation of many young black women in the 1970s and 1980s and even now. While reading this novel, sometimes I forgot what the time period was because the issues and other actions of the story still happen in today's modern society. There are still people who are materialistic and superficial like Tracy, marriages still take effort like Tracy's parents, some children still become sexually active too soon like Tracy and some of her friends and the young men they were attracted to, and people still do things for selfish reasons like several characters in the novel. Omar Tyree did a really great job with his portrayal of Tracy's life exploration through high school and her character growth can really be seen as inspiration.

Stay Flyy,

The Black Bibliophage