Book Recommendation: Ghetto Cowboy

Ghetto Cowboy, by G. Neri from Rick's Picks Blog

30 July 2011 GHETTO COWBOY by G. Neri, Candlewick, August 2011, 218p., ISBN: 978-0-7636-4922-7
"The stables is nothing more than a few garages and some vacant lots with old buildings that look like they made outta scrap. I peek inside one. It's dark and smells all dank like horse. There's banged-up plywood and hay on the floor, and the ceiling is covered in cobwebs so thick, it looks like nobody ever cleaned up there before. The stalls is small, with no windows, and the wood is old and warped, like it's been there forever. There's maybe ten horses inside, all poking their heads outta their cubbyholes, looking at me like I'm the one who shouldn't be in the city. Why they need horses out here, anyhow? I don't get it."

GHETTO COWBOY, which combines elements of the movie Boyz n the Hood and Elaine Konigsberg's story The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (both old favorites of mine), is about the keeping of some [other] horses in Philadelphia, some that you've probably not seen even if you call Philadelphia home.

... a young teenager named Coltrane will, in the middle of a down-on-its-heels northern Philadelphia neighborhood, find the beauty in an old racehorse. The horse is among those who has been saved from the dog food manufacturers by a pack of black cowboys. Cole doesn't remember this area -- he was a baby when he and his mother left Cole's cowboy father behind and headed to his mother's hometown of Motown. But when Coltrane blows off seventh grade and is heading for real trouble, his frustrated mom packs him in the car and dumps him off with that cowboy father (Harper) who he's never known.

GHETTO COWBOY is the coming of age story of Coltrane and the fiery old racehorse he names Boo. It is a great story of community building and of the therapeutic affect of animals and of the history of black cowboys.


Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com

Book and Movie Recommendation

Here is another one! Water for Elephants, both, the book and the movie is available. We have several copies of the book in our library and the movie has been released on DVD. Water for Elephants is also a past Name That Book book.

Teen Reads book review
Movie Trailer

Book Recommendation: The Help

The Help by Kathry Stockett


The Help was one of last year's Name That Book reads and is incontrovertibly this summer's must read!

Here are a few quote from Stockett's synopsis:

"Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, ... she would normally find solace in her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared"

"Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way."

"Minny, Aibileen's best friend... finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own."

Our library has several copies. Pick one up and read it before the movie premieres in August.

Book Recommendation: Incantation

Incantation, by Alice Hoffman brings to life the Spanish Inquisition. Here is a quote from the book: "A monster is hard to see and even harder to kill. It takes time to grow so huge, time to crawl up into the open air."

Teen Reads review

Check it out this summer. We have several copies, including MP3 audio book.

Book Into Movie: Beastly

Beastly by Alex Flinn, the modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast opens it's film adaptation tomorrow. Here is the Teen Reads review. Check out one of our several copies of the book. This book is one of our past Name That Book books.

City of Thieves

I recommend this book because it's an entertaining story that mixes a setting of WWII with humorous elements. This book is on the HISD high school Name That Book list.

by Kendall

The Help

This book helps you better understand life for blacks and women in the early 50's and 60's . It shows life fromtwo different point of views as well as overall emotions between two races.

review by C'Ne

"Hell is Red River, Idaho, in the 1970s."

From Sherman Alexie's Flight.

The Importance of Being Earnest

I have just finished re-reading Oscar Wild's last play. Each time I read it, I discover even more plays on words, society, and social mores. This one is always such a fun read. Check out the preview at Google Books.

I am stil reading Going Bovine, Flight, and Gringolandia. Check out more information about the books on the Yates Shelfari.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Naomi Bates' book talk for Stolen

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen

Review by Naomi Bates