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There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America (Paperback)

by Alex Kotlowitz (Author) "NINE-YEAR-OLD Pharoah Rivers stumbled to his knees..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bird Leg, Henry Horner, Vice Lords (more...)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

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.

From Publishers Weekly
The devastating story of brothers Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers, children of the Chicago ghetto, is powerfully told here by Kotlowitz, a Wall Street Journal reporter who first met the boys in 1985 when they were 10 and seven, respectively. Their family includes a mother, a frequently absent father, an older brother and younger triplets. We witness the horrors of growing up in an ill-maintained housing project tyrannized by drug gangs and where murders and shootings frequently occur. Lafayette tries to cope by stifling his emotions and turning himself into an automaton, while Pharoah first attempts to regress into early childhood and then finds a way out by excelling at school. Kotlowitz's affecting report does not have a "neat and tidy ending. . . . It is, instead, about a beginning, the dawning of two lives." These are lives at a crossroads, not totally without hope of triumphing over their origin. ( Apr .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Anchor (January 5, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385265565
ISBN-13: 978-0385265560
Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,350 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#2 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Social Groups
#11 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Children's Studies
#14 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Urban

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Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
NINE-YEAR-OLD Pharoah Rivers stumbled to his knees. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bird Leg, Henry Horner, Vice Lords, Jimmie Lee, Public Aid, Lelia Mae, Tough Luck, Boys Club, Craig Davis, Madison Street, Anne Rhodes, West Washington, Washington Boulevard, Damen Avenue, Miles Square Health Center, Damen Courts, Jesse Thomas, Lafeyette Rivers, Judge Mahan, Four Corner Hustlers, Lawrence Jackson, Rockwell Gardens, Cook County Hospital, Paul Rivers, Ann's Longhorn Saloon

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Front Cover | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 8 books:

Freedom of Information Act by Christopher L. Henry in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Best Intentions: The Education and Killing of Edmund Perry by Robert Sam Anson in Back Matter
HAUNTED HOUSE (Disney's Wonderful World of Reading ; 33) by Disney Book Club on page 194
Quiet Riots by Fred R. Harris in Back Matter
Jane Addams (Compass Point Early Biographies, 3) by Lucia Raatma on page 120

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100 books cite this book:

The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America's Children And What We Can Do About It by Richard Weissbourd on 8 pages
Leadership for Educational Renewal: Developing a Cadre of Leaders (Agenda for Education in a Democracy, Vol 1) by Wilma F. Smith on 7 pages
Race and Urban Space in American Culture (America in the 20th/21st Century) by Liam Kennedy on 6 pages
Great Books for High School Kids: A Teacher's Guide to Books That Can Change Teens' Lives by Amy Crawford on 5 pages
Tattoos on My Soul: From the Ghetto to the Top of the World by Burrel Lee Wilks III on page 35, page 38, and Back Matter

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	90% buy the item featured on this page: There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America 4.5 out of 5 stars (94) $10.17
	3% buy A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League 4.4 out of 5 stars (124) $10.15
	3% buy Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx 4.2 out of 5 stars (148) $10.88
	2% buy The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down 4.5 out of 5 stars (248) $10.20

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Customer Reviews

94 Reviews

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (94 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons for both conservatives and liberals, July 21, 2005

By	W. M. Davidson (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To hardcore conservatives who believe that the plight of the poor is no one's fault but their own, I say: Read this book. To hardcore liberals who believe the poor are oppressed by society and not responsible for their situation, I say: Read this book. "There are No Children Here" shows that life is more complicated than either extreme. The lives of the people in this book are governed by complex interactions of both personal choices and unavoidable bad luck. The author sympathetically examines the terrible hardships his subjects were born into, but never shies away from showing how their situation is perpetuated by the harmful behavior and relationships they choose to pursue. Whatever your ideology is going in, you will not look at poverty the same way after reading this book.

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, May 2, 2000

By	Jeremy Skinner (Muncie, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This book describes a social atmosphere that few people actually experience or fully understand. It only provides a glimpse into the lives of two boys growing up in one of Chicago's public housing areas, but it will leave an everlasting impression in the minds of its readers. Alex Kotlowitz follows the lives of these two young boys as they attempt to navigate through the gang wars, police and government deficiencies, and the poverty stricken Chicago slums. The boys are under 15 years of age, yet they are forced to make decisions that people much older than them struggle with every day. They are forced to struggle through their childhood in poverty and without a father to guide them in those struggles. Kotlowitz looks at the two boys as they watch their friends and family members perish in gang and drug wars, police brutality, or hauled off to prison for other crimes. They also watch as their mother struggles to provide for her family and the governments inefficient handling of Chicago's public housing. The author is able to show the young boys struggle to get an education and succeed in an area filled with failures. They have few role models to guide their decisions and few opportunities for success. Alex Kotlowitz is able to point out the constant struggle these young boys have faced and the opportunities that they are deprived of. He shows how the environment both physically and mentally hampers the two boys opportunity for success and a normal childhood. The book provides an excellent look into the mental struggles they faced as their friends got caught up in gangs, were killed, and started committing petty crimes. Overall this book provides an excellent depiction of life in the Chicago public housing, and the struggle of those two boys as they attempt to survive and succeed in the ghettos.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book That Changed My Life, May 4, 2003

By	"scarlettdraelynkhar" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

It's been a few years since I've read this book in its entirety. I first did so as a requirement for my college minor - Youth Agency Administration. This book, quite simply, changed everything for me. Growing up in a small farming community far away from the violence of the inner city, the only view I ever had of the life led by Lafayette & Pharoah came from snippets of the news from larger cities or from movies. It's easy to question the accuracy of both. However, with every page of "There Are No Children Here," I was drawn into the struggle these boys and their family & friends faced every day. I, as many others who have read their story, do wonder what has happened to all of these people since the ending of the book. Bottom line: Yes, the author's elaborations can seem a bit contrived at times, but the facts of the story alone speak for themselves. And, honestly, given the power of this account, what author would not be a bit emotional & contrived? That's the point. I recommend this book to people all the time...even to my boyfriend who grew up in a Chicago neighborhood similar to the one haunted by Lafayette & Pharoah. Regardless of your reason for reading it, your own background, or what you think your views are now, you will bring something away from the experience.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling and Disturbing
I cannot think of a better narrative of what life is like in the urban ghettos than "There Are No Children Here. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Jay Young

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more

Published 7 months ago by bongo

4.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Gerard F. Zemek

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Linda Wilhelm

5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Arthur Felix

5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more

Published 18 months ago by reenum

5.0 out of 5 stars The other America indeed
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. Read more

Published 22 months ago by K.Mckendra

5.0 out of 5 stars a sobering account of the horrendous state of America's impoverished
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. Read more

Published on July 17, 2007 by hoogli/jklsong

5.0 out of 5 stars impressive work of reserach and great story telling
As in his other book, The other side of the River, Alex Kotlowitz proves again what an amazing story teller he is. Read more

Published on April 30, 2007 by ayelet

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reading
I was required to read this book for a class and loved it! The story of these boys was so moving. I would recommend this book to everyone!

Published on April 7, 2007 by Danielle Boone

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