Sam Glodsky lives among the rough-and-tumble gangs on the streets of New York's Lower East Side. When 13-year-old Sam falls in with fearsome gangster Monk Eastman, he joins an outrageous scheme to rescue Eastman's prize racing-pigeon from a cholera-ridden steamship quarantined in the harbor. The caper Monk hatches to snatch the bird pairs Sam with his archenemy, the notorious Izzy Fink. Widely acclaimed for his picture book histories, Don Brown's first historical novel is a fast-paced tale of immigrant life at the turn of the twentieth century. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 4-8 Gang wars, pickpockets, pushcarts, and tenements best describe New York CityâÇÖs 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 SamâÇÖs 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 charactersâÇÖ 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 âÇ£long-held prejudicesâÇ  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 © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Weaving in historical details and characters, tough talk, and nonstop action, Brown builds his story around immigrants from Europe in the 1890s that found their way to the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side. While his father, a tailor, is sewing buttonholes for eight cents a hundred, 13-year-old Sam Glodsky, half Irish and half Jewish, is trying to survive as a newsboy, on the run from youth gangs of Dagos, Micks, and Yids, as well as adult gangsters and corrupt coppers. The cast is huge, and there's a lot going on, making it sometimes difficult to sort out who's who and where everyone's loyalties lie. But an afterword, which talks about what's true and real, provides some context, and the book is honest about both the bitter struggle for survival and the ugly prejudice. Every lively sentence Brown has written lends insight into American diversity. For books on more recent immigrant experiences, see Core Collection: The New Immigration Story, in the August 2005 issue of Booklist. HazelRochman. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.