Publishers Weekly
Brown returns to the world of his picture-book biography Kid Blink Beats the World, deftly blending fact and fiction as he ushers readers onto the bustling streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side in the 1890s. Narrator Sam, whose Irish mother died trying to drag him away from a gang skirmish, works odd jobs to help support himself and his Jewish father, a tailor who has been deeply depressed since his wife's death. In a rather convoluted chain of events, Monk Eastman (a real-life gangster) recruits 13-year-old Sam and his thuggish archrival Izzy Fink, who heads up a gang of pickpockets, to sneak onto a cholera-infected ship anchored in New York harbor and fetch a prized racing pigeon with which Monk intends to compete. They pull off this feat, yet Monk comes after the boys when he discovers that the pigeon has a broken wing. Sam's run-ins with rival gang members, corrupt Tammany Hall politicians and crooked "coppers" add to the spice of the tale, which features crude street slang and ethnic slurs. (In an afterword, Brown notes that, in that era, such ethnic slurs "were freely used, reflecting the prejudicial stereotypes of the day.") Despite a few slow sequences and loose strands, the novel delivers a hard-hitting portrait of life on the streets in a turbulent time and introduces a host of credible characters-some sympathetic, others unsavory. Ages 11-14. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
VOYA
- Cindy Lombardo
Brown's somewhat convoluted story, filled with fights, fisticuffs, Lower East Side slang, and rooftop escapades, provides readers with a wonderful multisensory look at gang life on the streets of New York at the turn of the last century. Thirteen-year-old Sam Glodsky earns a meager living through his wits and good fortune, making just enough to keep body and soul together for himself and his widowed father. When an opportunity arises to work with his sworn enemy, the "notorious" Izzy Fink, Sam embarks on a risky scheme to rescue a valuable racing pigeon belonging to gangster Monk Eastman from the cargo hold of a ship infected with cholera. Fans of the film The Gangs of New York will relish the rough-and-tumble adventures of Sam and his friends, despite a somewhat improbable plot and one-dimensional characters. The author's discussion of what is and is not "true" in the book is as interesting as the story itself.
Children's Literature
- Triss Robinson
Sam Glodsky is a boy that lives on the streets of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. Sam is a member of one of the many street gangs in the city. He has an invalid father that is unable to make much money, so it falls on Sam to find odd jobs wherever he can. Izzy Fink is a member of a rival gang. There is bad blood between these two boys. All of New York hears about a ship that is docked in the harbor. There is a cholera outbreak on board, and no one is getting off. A gangster named Monk Eastman has a prize-winning racing pigeon on board. He hires Sam and Izzy to sneak on board the ship and bring it to him unhurt. Sam can't refuse the money. However, this is where things start to fall apart for him. He barely makes it off the ship before it sets sail. Izzy then takes full credit for rescuing the pigeon, so Sam is paid only a small share of the money. Monk discovers the pigeon has a broken wing, and has the pigeon killed. Monk blames both boys for his loss and makes violent threats towards them, which sends them into hiding. Together the boys help each other get away from Monk. With help from Sam's friends and his father, Monk agrees to leave the boys alone. Sam goes back to selling newspapers and resumes his life a little wiser. This realistic story gives the reader a glimpse into how poor kids learned to survive on the streets of New York, and the hardships they faced.
School Library Journal
Gr 4-8-Gang wars, pickpockets, pushcarts, and tenements best describe New York City's Lower East Side in the 1890s, home to 13-year-old Sam Glodsky, the half-Irish, half-Russian Jewish protagonist. He and his buddy Manny hawk newspapers for pennies to help put food on their tables. Sam gets involved with the Chief Inspector of the Health Department, who enlists his help in tracking down a cholera victim who has escaped a quarantined ship and may be inadvertently spreading the disease. In order to gain access to the ship, the boy takes a job with notorious gangster/animal lover Monk Eastman, who pays him and another boy to rescue a prized carrier pigeon from the ship. The other boy turns out to be Sam's archenemy, and when Fink mishandles the bird and breaks its wing, Eastman is out to get him. Expletives and coarse language are a natural part of the characters' dialogue. Though there is some mention of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, the main focus is on the immigrant factions; an afterword refers to the "long-held prejudices" of the various ethnic groups that heightened as they competed for jobs and housing. Even reluctant readers will enjoy this engaging, action-packed novel, and the period will spring to life.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Recruited from the streets of the Lower East Side in the 1890s, Sam and Izzy must retrieve gangster boss Monk Eastman's prize racing pigeon from a cholera ship anchored in the harbor, thus bringing them into a dangerous relationship with the vicious mobster. There is plenty of action-gang fights, stealing aboard the eerie death ship, facing the wrath of a displeased crime boss-but New York City itself steals the show here, and Brown does an unusually fine job of evoking children's life on the streets, hawking newspapers, picking pockets, mucking out stables-anything to make pennies. Short chapters, a brisk pace, lively dialogue and a compelling plot provide a totally engaging tale. Though readers may object to coarse words and ethnic slurs mouthed by characters, such language is as much a part of the flavor and authenticity the novel strives for as the descriptions of pushcarts, newsies and tenements. A good match with Deborah Hopkinson's Shutting Out the Sky (2003) and Brown's own picture book Kid Blink Beats the World (2004). (author's note) (Fiction. 11-14)
