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Babylon Boyz Original Edition
Contributor(s): Mowry, Jess (Author), Gore, Leonid (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0689825927     ISBN-13: 9780689825927
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
OUR PRICE:   $10.40  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: June 1999
Qty:
Annotation: For 14-year-old Dante and his posse, life in Babylon isn't about making choices but about dodging blows. Dante needs a heart operation, Pook can't afford college, let alone medical school, and Wyatt's going to need more than his sense of humor to squeeze through life. So when the boys find a suitcase full of cocaine, they face an excruciating decision. Selling the coke means escape. But it also means adding to the crack epidemic that has already destroyed their community.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes - Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse
Dewey: FIC
LCCN: 96015645
Physical Information: 0.48" H x 5.58" W x 8.5" (0.55 lbs) 192 pages
Themes:
- Ethnic Orientation - African American
Accelerated Reader Info
Quiz #: 21605
Reading Level: 4.4   Interest Level: Upper Grades   Point Value: 8.0
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
In this tense teen novel, three struggling boys in embattled West Oakland are faced with a choice sure to change their lives--for better or worse.

Dante, Pook, and Wyatt are eighth graders in a rundown school in West Oakland, California, plagued by guns, gangs, drugs, and violence, all overseen by inept or indifferent teachers. The three friends are used to only being able to react to the world around them, dodging blows rather than forging their own paths.

Dante, thirteen, was born to a crack-addicted mother and needs an expensive heart operation if he hopes to reach thirty. Pook is newly fourteen and, handsome and muscular, outcasted for being gay, with dreams of medical school he can't afford. Wyatt, thirteen, is awesomely fat and cursed with being smart in a stupid place.

They feel like they're headed for a dead in until they find a suitcase full of cocaine and suddenly face an excruciating decision. Selling the coke means escape. But it also means adding to the crack epidemic that has already destroyed their community.

What price are they willing to pay for freedom.


Contributor Bio(s): Gore, Leonid: - Leonid Gore moved to the US from his native Belarus in 1991. He has illustrated many beloved books for children and is also the author and illustrator of Danny's First Snow. Mr. Gore lives in Oakland, New Jersey. Visit him online at LeonidGore.com.