There Are No Children Here Essay example -- Essays Papers

There Are No Children HereAlex Kotlowitz was a freelance journalist. In 1985 a friend came to him and asked him to write a text for a word picture essay he was doing on (children living in poverty) for a Chicago magazine. That is when he met the Rivers brothers, Lafeyette, age ten, and Pharoah age seven. He spent only a few hours with them interviewing for the photo essay. Lafeyette had an impact on Kotlowitz. When asked what he wanted to be, Lafeyette responded with If I grow up, Id like to be a bus driver. Meaning, at ten years old, he wasnt sure if hed make it to adulthood. In 1988 Kotlowitz suggested to the boys mother, LaJoe, the idea of writing a book about Pharoah, Lafeyette and the other children in the neighborhood. LaJoe liked the idea. However, she then said, But you know, there ar no children here. Theyve seen too much to be children.Alex Kotlowitz entitled his book, There Are No Children Here. It is a story of two brothers growing up in a housing project of Chicago. By the author following the boys through with(predicate)out their day to day lives, we, the readers, are also enveloped in the boys surroundings. We learn about their everyday lives, from how they tack together out their clothes, to how they wash them. We go to school with them and we play with them. Throughout the book, we are much like flies on the wall. We see and feel everything the boys go through at Henry Horner Homes, the project where they live. LaJoe moved into the Henry Horner...