By: Alex Kotlowitz Publisher: Nan A. Talese Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Nan A. Talese Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 324 Publication Date: February 01, 1991 Release Date: February 01, 1991
Product Description: This is the moving and powerful account of two remarkable boys struggling to survive in Chicago's Henry Horner Homes, a public housing complex disfigured by crime and neglect.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Amazon.com Review: There Are No Children Here, the true story of brothers Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, ages 11 and 9 at the start, brings home the horror of trying to make it in a violence-ridden public housing project. The boys live in a gang-plagued war zone on Chicago's West Side, literally learning how to dodge bullets the way kids in the suburbs learn to chase baseballs. "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver," says Lafeyette at one point. That's if, not when--spoken with the complete innocence of a child. The book's title comes from a comment made by the brothers' mother as she and author Alex Kotlowitz contemplate the challenges of living in such a hostile environment: "There are no children here," she says. "They've seen too much to be children." This book humanizes the problem of inner-city pathology, makes readers care about Lafeyette and Pharoah more than they may expect to, and offers a sliver of hope buried deep within a world of chaos.
Living at Henry Horner This book is about a family living in the Henry Horner housing project in Chicago during a couple years in the 80's, primarily dealing with two boys, Lafayette, who's 11 at the beginning of the book and his younger brother Pharoah, who's 9. They live with their mother LaJoe, their siblings and various relatives who come and go, sometimes including their father.
It's a rough neighborhood and they have to contend with drug dealers, over crowded schools, random gunfire, poor housing, hostility from the police, amongst other problems. The kids are used to ducking for cover when they hear a gunfight break out outside their apartment. They have a bathtub that never stops running and an oven that doesn't always work. They have friends who are murdered.
It's a tough place to grow up but the author gives us their positive moments. Pharoah is an aspiring spelling bee competitor and has a personal refuge in a grassy neighborhood a few blocks away. Lafayette befriends an amateur local dj and helps his mother take care of the household.
This is an amazing book. It reminded me of great 19th century authors like Dickens. It's that good. Recommended with no qualifications whatsoever.
A World Not Seen By Many "There Are No Children Here" is an extraordinary book about living in the projects of chicago. This book is dated since this project got knocked down years ago, but it does not make the story any less relevant. It's about two boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah, and their families living day to day just trying to survive. You get into this story quick and stay there. It's a good read. I recommend it.
There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America I found this book both rewarding and disturbing at the same time but appreciated that it took me out of my middle class comfort zone and reminded me that there are social and cultural inequities that continue to cry out urgently for solutions. Mr Kotlowitz has the ability to describe the lives of two young gentle souls who are raised as best their mother can against a system that tolerates, shamefully, physical surrounds and economic deprivations that most of us can only guess at. The author narrates his observations as he follows the children around and describes how they deal with the life they are dealt and the heroics involved in order to do so over a two year period. I think that the way we are shown how their loving mother has to go about her daily life should awaken in all of us a desire to help in any way we can, to find ways to ease the life of those who live in sub standard housing and the lack of more assistance to live a more comfortable and nurturing life. Without tackling such issues, we continue to condemn our youngsters to a way of life that inhibits their potential and ingrains the social ills that contribute significantly to their development. Mr Kotlowitz,in deciding to help those youngster personally, to give them the opportunity to study at a private school, whether they did or did not ultimately benefit from his generosity, is an example most of us can only dream about. I highly recommend this book to all who may wish to gain insight into a class in our society that cries out for understanding and assistance.
Incredible book to read depicting subsidized housing in Chgo Incredible book and this is a strong and valid depiction of life in the Chgo Housing Projects as seen through the eyes of 2 young boys and their family members. The uphill battles and huge struggles are incomprehensible. You don't have to be from Chgo to appreciate this.
Riveting look at poverty Kotlowitz has given us a striking example of the power of journalism.
This book is able to show the reader the plight of the urban poor without overly moralizing. Kotlowitz gives a straight ahead account of the lives of Lafeyette and Pharoah, the two brothers this book centers. Their struggles to retain their innocence while living in an environment that strips it away is mesmerizing.
I could not help but empathize with the families in this book. A lot of pundits will say that poor people are lazy, but this book brings a lot of their challenges to light. When survival is a day to day struggle, how can people be expected to get ahead? Kotlowitz details the struggles the boys and their families have in trying to improve their situation.
This book is a modern classic about poverty and its effects, in the vein of 'Down and Out in Paris and London' by George Orwell. Anyone wanting to understand 'welfare moms' and why they don't improve their situations should read this.
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