There are no children here - If I grow up"If I grow up, I would like to be a bus driver." If...not when. Sentiments like this echo hauntingly in the pages of Alex Kotlowitz's account of his two years documenting the lives of two brothers, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers. The boys have little happiness and too much sorrow, trying to survive day to day in their apartment in the crime-ridden Henry Horner Homes housing complex in suburban Chicago. When Kotlowitz contacted the boys' mother, LaJoe, about writing the book about her children, she agreed with him, but felt the need to set it straight. "But you know, there are no children here. They've seen too much to be children," LaJoe told Kotlowitz. Lajoe moved to Horner when she was a young girl with her family of thirteen. The family lived in an apartment above a church, which lacked adequate heating and where organ music was frequently heard coming from the church below. Having heard about the new public housing projects aimed at financially disadvantaged families, LaJoe's parents packed up the family and moved into one of the new buildings. When the family arrived at their new home, they couldn't believe their eyes. It looked like a palace. Outside there were yellow flowers and street lamps. The exterior of the building was made of sturdy, dark red bricks. Inside, the walls were stark white, with shiny linoleum floors. A new stove and refrigerator expected in the kitchen. It seemed like a dream to them, until everything fell apart. One of Lajoe's sisters was found strangled in the family bathtub. Then, upon hearing the news of his sister's death, one of Lajoe's brothers had a heart attack and died. LaJoe's parents quickly packed their bags...... middle of paper ...... singing about the possibility of suing her husband for child support with someone. As for the analysis of the book itself, although the author aims to provide a chronicle of two years in the lives of the two brothers, he actually ends up writing more about their mother. It talks about LaJoe's parents, how they met and married and why they moved to Horner. It portrays LaJoe as an extremely generous but tough woman, who will do anything to help not only her own family, but also all the children in the neighborhood. LaJoe feeds and cares for many children in the neighborhood. For this, she is rare and special in an environment of black mothers who are prostitutes and drug addicts. She stands by her children when most mothers would be ashamed and disown them. I finished this book feeling a lot of respect and admiration for LaJoe and everything she went through...