There Are No Children Here by: Alex Kotlowitz
review by: Janna Gartland '04
What would you think if you woke up one morning to screaming and gunshots outside your window? You would probably believe you were still sleeping, caught in a nightmare, but for two boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah, it is a reality. There Are No Children Here is a nonfiction book sketching the lives of the Rivers family who live in the Henry Horner Projects in Chicago. In the projects the days are filled with violence and fear of the gangs. The book follows the boys through four years of life to illustrate the struggles that poverty-stricken children have to endure every day. But this book is not a tragedy; it is instead a book of hope and courage. Lafeyette and Pharoah invite the reader into their lives to share their hope for the future: to graduate from high school, to move into a safe neighborhood, and to live a long life.The St. Olaf reader will be opened to a whole new perspective on gangs, justice, hope, and poverty. This book helps us to understand a life that many children live. The author, Alex Kotlowitz, brings the Rivers family, especially Lafeyette and Pharoah, alive and the reader connects with the two boys instantly as their story smoothly enfolds.
I would highly recommend this book because the reader is instantly connected to the two boys within the first chapters and stays connected throughout the whole book. Their lives become a reality on the pages and the reader responds with compassion. It is also a book that is important for understanding the struggles of poverty and racism. This book is very well written with wonderful characterization and demands the reader to read with the heart.