Rating: 
Summary: How hard it is to be young,black and poor in Chicago.
Review: This is a most readable non-fiction work about the lives of two boys growing up in the 1980's Chicago Housing projects. In addition to showing what 'childhood" means for someone in these brothers' situation, one learns much about why their lives are as they are. Interwoven with the boys' personal
stories are objective analyses of social institutions. This is
a powerful, informative, wonderful book that everyone should read sometime. But beware, one's live could be changed as a
result of reading it.
Rating:
Summary: just FYI
Review: Thomas Sowell is a far-right columnist who appeals mainly to the most extreme element of the American right. He is often syndicated in the local paper, which is how I know his work. If that kind of invective is your thing (culture wars, etc.), then you will agree with Galt's review. If you don't, you will probably find it worthwhile to look at the lives a significant number of urban Americans live. I think that it's necessary to understand a problem from the inside in order to try to fix it, and this book will bring you into the lives of inner-city youth (granted from a few years back). Reading is a way to experience things we would never encounter in our own lives, and this book gave me insight into the lives of inner-city kids I would not have gotten otherwise. It was worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: There are No Children Here
Review: The book, There are No Children Here tells the story of two young boys as they grow up in the Henry Horner projects on the Southeast side of Chicago. This book, though gruesome at times, truly captures the often edgy feeling that occurs in impoverished urban areas, such as the one that There are No Children Here takes place in.
A journalist who follows the lives of two young boys, Pharoah and Lafeyette Rivers, writes the story. The story follows them as they grow up, learning to live their lives in a troubled area, and daily live in fear of not seeing the light of the next morning.
`"If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver"'(13). That is one quote in particular that stuck out in the text, because it really established the feeling of fear that people cope with regularly in the projects.
Although the ending is not quite the happy, tidy one that people enjoy reading, it gives the reader a real view of what life is like a very different world than most of us are used to. The end is truly more of a beginning, because it is the foundation for what the two boy's lives will be, just like many others in the Henry Horner Projects.
One very positive thing about the book, There are No Children Here is the strong characters. Kotlowitz very well molds the personality each of the characters possesses. One particularly well-defined character was the mother, LaJoe Rivers. Throughout the entire book it is easy to see that she indefinitely is trying to make the most for her family under less than perfect circumstances. "A shy, soft spoken woman, LaJoe was often known for her generosity...Many young men and women called her `mom'" (10).
Aside from having well defined characters, Kotlowitz paints a very accurate picture of what the projects are like, surely due to his extensive research. He also has strong descriptions of events that occurred during his stay in Henry Horner development.
This book is very well written, but there were some problems. The story paints such a vivid picture, that at times, it becomes to gruesome to read. I often found myself having to set the book down and consider what I was reading. It is difficult for the reader not to become emotionally attached to the characters in the book, which is why this book is not to be recommended to the overly sensitive.
Some of the images in this book are not pleasing, such as this particular incident Kotlowitz described. "Apparently the man everyone was assaulting had fondled an eight- year- old boy in a vacant fourth- floor apartment. No one thought to call the police" (225). There are many events like this in the book.
Rating:
Summary: just FYI
Review: Make no mistake: this book should be read and contemplated from cover to cover. I am horrified to see some of the reviews given of this book such as given by Mr. Galt, and the unidentified 'reader' who should be too ashamed to reveal who he really is. Read the reviews by the above individuals, and stare into the face of brass hard cruelty and ignorant misunderstanding. Kotlowitz's book is a look into the lives of two young boys growing up in the hard parts of Chicago, and very sucessfully displays many of the struggles that happen in such areas. The book goes into depth into the lives of the individuals who the book is centered on, and really gives an inside out look at the situation that way too many people are forced to grow up in: in the 'other America' that too many of us are content to ignore. The strong reactions by some (such as Mr. Galt) to this book gives good illustration to what Jürgan Moltmann wisely points out, that "[t]he people who enjoy the modern world because they live on `the sunny side of the street' fear the downfall of their world..." (Moltmann 1996, 135). Kotlowitz brings us into the the 'dark side of the street' to see the view of the world from the eyes of two young boys. Read this book for yourself and make your own final judgements, but in my opinion and many others, this is an excellent read.
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