Children There

Written by Alex Kotlowitz, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, the book There Are No Children There follows two boys' activities around the Henry Horner Homes, a low-income public housing project in Chicago, Illinois. The book covers the time period from the summer of 1987 through September, 1989, and follows the protagonists, Lafeyette Rivers (nearly 12 years old) and Pharoah Rivers (nine years old). This is not an ordinary American neighborhood. It is a heavy gang area, a war zone where shootings are commonplace, drugs are a catalyst for crime and death seems to lurk around every corner. This paper will review the book chronologically through five chapters then provide a closer critique of LaJoe Rivers, the mother of the protagonists.

The average American comes home from work in the evening, opens a refreshing cold drink, gets comfortable on the couch and turns on the evening news....
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