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 Club: Book #5
1 year ago
