Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this is a rough book, both in content and in subject. There is swearing, brutal violence (several murders are described, including one with a baseball bat), drugs, alcohol, and smoking. But none of this is as disturbing as the subject: child assassins working for Medellin drug lords.
Families who read this book could discuss the subject matter. Why would young boys become assassins? What is the appeal of the drug lords? What are the causes of this society? Some teens may be interested in researching the facts behind this fiction book. What kind of responsibility do Americans bear for this reality?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
This is rough stuff, make no mistake. This story of teen assasins takes readers to a place and a way of life that we can only hope remains as alien as it is right now. That Americans bear some responsibility for the creation of this culture is beside the author's point -- his aim is to reveal the humanity behind statistics so stunning that most Americans can't really wrap their heads around them.
Every now and then we hear something on the nightly news about the drug wars, the narcotrafficantes, the gangs and militia in Columbia, but it takes something like this powerful book to make it real, especially to teens.
While the events depicted here are horrific, author Matt Whyman does keep the reader at some emotional distance. Ordinarily this would be a criticism, but here it's more like praise. Readers will be disturbed enough without having emotionally identified with Sonny and Alberto.
These are characters with a miserable present and no future, and middle-class considerations of basic decency and morality have no place in their world. A little distance is a good thing.
But the book will still have a powerful impact on your kids, and they may have more questions than you are prepared to answer.
From The Book
"Believe me, nothing is more unsettling in this world than a kid with a gun." That's what the boss says whenever he introduces me to people. I've never found myself on the wrong side of a piece, not for real. Then again, I suppose you could say I'm the kind of kid people fear.
"An adult is aware of the consequences," he'll continue, so softly you almost have to hold your breath in case you miss something. "He's likely to hesitate before pulling the trigger, or scale down the hit and just scare the sucker instead. A boy doesn't think like that. You give him a job, he'll get it done, no question. Why?" He always pauses here (or pats me on the head if I'm standing right beside him). "Because a boy is aware of the consequences if he doesn't see it through."
Plot Summary:
Sonny and Alberto are best friends on the mean streets of Medellin, Columbia. They hang out together and protect each other, working together in small-time crime, such as selling contraband cigarettes. So Sonny is shocked when Alberto becomes one of the sicarios, child assassins used by drug lords because they are easy to control, manipulate, and dispose of. And he is infuriated and humiliated when Alberto will not let him join up as well.
Alberto's gun and money give him prestige and respect in the neighborhood, and his determination to keep Sonny out of it tests their friendship. But when Alberto disappears, Sonny's way is cleared, and he no longer has anything to lose.
Related Books:
Other Books by Matt Whyman
The Wild
Superhuman
XY
More Kids Who Fall into Crime
The Mimosa Tree by Vera and Bill Cleaver
The Jazz Kid by James Lincoln Collier
My Crooked Family by James Lincoln Collier
Rite of Passage by Richard Wright
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos
You Don't Know Me by David Klass
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentA reference to testicles. References to prostitution (both child and adult), and to oral sex. |
 |
|||
ViolenceThe main characters become child-assassins. Several murders described, including one with a baseball bat. Sonny is abused by his uncle and beaten on the street. Some gruesome torture is described. A child is forced to kill himself. |
 |
|||
LanguagePlenty of moderate swearing. |
|
|||
Message |
|
|||
Social BehaviorThe main characters drop out of school and becomes assassins for a drug lord. Sonny steals to show off. |
 |
|||
CommercialismCigarette brands. |
 |
|||
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoDrug dealers rule the streets, and young boys admire them and work for them. The boys are given drugs before each hit so that they don't back out. They sell also sell and smoke contraband cigarettes and marijuana, and drink alcohol. |
|
|||
