This book touches on many lives in the poorer side of Mexico City. We learn about the homeless kids of the title, old beyond their years and living by the Street Kid Code. We meet Alejandro and Daveed from the Crisis Centre who do what they can to help the kids. There are not too many adults in the book and those that are there are usually incidental to the main action.
Primarily this is the story of Dolita, eight years old, who has spent most of her life on the streets. We hear how her mother came to the city to make her fortune but ended up deserted and homeless with a baby she was unable to bring up. Leaving Dolita with beggar-woman Ma Kensie, she disappears – just one of the adults appearing fleetingly in the story and then departing, never to be seen again.
We follow Dolita through a year of adventures, with her faithful dog Raggy Man. With the other kids, they break into an empty house looking for treasures. She is injured when she falls on the rubbish tip rescuing an abandoned baby. She succumbs to an infection which leads to a hospital stay; is offered a place in a children’s home; but finds her way back to her friends and life on the streets. She makes an unlikely friend in a tough member of a rival gang – only to lose him the same day through a tragic accident.
I found it hard to decide for whom this book was written. I searched the covers for an indication this was a book for children or young adults. I wondered if it was a book for adults, written through the eyes of a child. Yet, the story is narrated by Charlotte, a woman from the UK who appears to be modelled on Mckann herself. She has recently come to Mexico and appears in the story every so often, visiting hospitals, crisis centres, meeting the kids and observing their lives. Despite the transient bond she forms with Dolita at one point, I felt this character added little to the story and found the way in which she occasionally addressed the reader directly to be frankly irritating.
There are some sad moments in this book and a true air of realism about the lives of these kids. However, there is also a feeling of hope and optimism. One final adult appears out of nowhere at the end of the book, leaving the reader with the suggestion that maybe the future is going to be brighter for Dolita after all.
ISBN 978-0-9554438-1-7 Published by Sharon House Publishing Ltd
(Review first published in The Women Writer by Society of Women Writers and Journalists)
Many thanks for the review. This is my first novel, which was aimed primarily at 9-13yrs, although many adults are reading and enjoying it. So I am told!
As the book is fiction based on fact, it seems to be of great interest to teachers who are finding it to be educational, in an entertaining way. The book lends itself open to discussion within the curriculum, namely; personal, social, and health education.(PSHE) I speak from experience, as I have now visited over 130 schools.
You mentioned that Charlotte added little to the story, which indeed is meant to be so. As this book is the first in a series, Charlotte’s role will become more prominent, as will that of other adults who dib in and out of the story.
Perhaps you would review Chavos 2 for me which goes to print very soon.
Regards
Anna
Comment by Anna McKann — March 17, 2011 @ 10:46 pm |
Hi Anna Yes, I’d be happy to review Chavos 2. When you send it to SWWJ for review, ask Jean to send it to Kate McC.
Comment by elizabethducie — March 21, 2011 @ 8:24 am |