Babylon Boyz

About this book

Dante, Pook, and Wyatt, 8th-graders in a rundown West Oakland, California school plagued by guns, gangs, drugs and violence as well as inept or indifferent teachers, don't have many choices in life. Dante, 13, was born to a crack-addicted mother and needs an expensive heart operation if he hopes to reach 30. Pook is newly 14 and, though handsome and muscular, with a dream of becoming a doctor, is an outcast because he’s gay. Wyatt, 13, is enormously fat, though his biggest handicap is being smart in a stupid place. Dante’s father, though loving, is an engineer on a tugboat and often absent from Dante’s life, but Wyatt’s single mother, who owns a little cafe and lives in Dante’s building, provides ample mothering and most of Dante’s meals; while Wyatt’s younger brother, Cheo, provides a little brother figure. Pook, whose crack-addicted parents are mostly indifferent to him, usually cribs with Dante; and all the boys have known each other for most of their lives. The boys also know the odds are against them: they are trapped in an evil Babylon which is ruled by hate, violence and greed; an environment which, both blatantly and subtly, encourages young black men to fight or kill or exploit each other while discouraging any dreams they may have of someday getting out. The elusive magic formula for escape is mostly composed of money, and the only people around them who seem to have any money are hustlers, drug-dealers, and gun-toting thugs. Nevertheless, and thanks mostly to Dante’s strong father and Wyatt’s formidable but caring mother, the boys have thus far managed…

Themes & subjects

About the author

Jess Mowry

1960