There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America | 
 enlarge | Author: Alex Kotlowitz
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.94
You Save: $14.01 (94%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  92 reviews
Sales Rank: 8144
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0385265565
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.230977311
EAN: 9780385265560
ASIN: 0385265565
Publication Date: January 5, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A very nice ex-library copy. Gently used. All pages and cover clear except for a few library markings. Binding solid and tight. No creases. Softly worn around corners and edges.
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Amazon.com
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.
Product Description
This is the moving and powerful account of tworemarkable boys struggling to survive in Chicago'sHenry Horner Homes, a public housing complexdisfigured by crime and neglect.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America May 2, 2008
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 April 23, 2008
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 January 10, 2008
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.
The other America indeed September 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Nice mix of anecdote and historical background on life in inner city America. Excellent insight into the everyday difficulties faced by families and some of the root causes. This book, though almost 20 years old, still has a message that needs to be heard.
a sobering account of the horrendous state of America's impoverished July 18, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You don't need to look to Africa or the Middle East to find crime and poverty. Millions live in gang-riddled public housing projects, where violence is a fact of life. If these thoughts don't stir your heart, this book will.
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