Cole doesn’t ride off into the sunset here, but he does, at least, ride off to a better future.
Twelve-year-old Cole has messed up one too many times, and now his mother has taken him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with his father, whom Cole doesn’t know.
Turns out Philadelphia isn’t much like Detroit. It’s the ’hood all right, but there are horses and stables and cowboys, right in the city. His father and his community of cowboys are continuing a tradition of urban cowboys dating back to the Civil War, maintaining stables and taking on kids to teach responsibility and provide an alternative to gangs and street life. But Cole doesn’t buy it: “You guys is funny. We in the city, with cars and computers and stuff, and you think you back in the Wild, Wild West!” Gradually, though, Cole finds he has a way with a horse named Boo, and in taking care of Boo he finds a new life for himself. It’s a fascinating glimpse of a culture most readers will not have heard of, and the author’s note leads to Neri’s website, with many links to articles and videos on the subject. Watson’s illustrations in pencil, ink and acrylic add a satisfying visual dimension.
Cole doesn’t ride off into the sunset here, but he does, at least, ride off to a better future. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4922-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
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Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
A skillful sequel that adds new layers to a coming-of-age story.
In this follow-up to Ghetto Cowboy (2011), 14-year-old Cole convinces his mother to let him stay in Philadelphia with his father and beloved horse, Boo, instead of returning to Detroit.
Cole and his dad, Harper, are still learning to navigate their father-son relationship after years of being estranged. As they figure out their new arrangement, Harper says Cole has to get a job to help earn his keep as well as Boo’s. Working as a stable hand at a nearby military academy, Cole meets young cadets who are strikingly different from him in socio-economic class and attitudes—and who seem to have it out for him from the start. Fortunately, Cole also meets and befriends Ruthie, a Black girl on the polo team who shares his love for horses. She is in a minority at the school due to her race and sex; the friendship offers mutual support. While working there, Cole develops a growing attraction to Ruthie as well as an interest in possibly attending the academy someday. But is this world just too different from his own for him to even get a foot in the door? And is he ready to leave everything he’s known behind? In this entry, Neri gives readers a look into another type of equestrian life while maintaining the tone and style readers appreciated in Cole’s cowboy journey, including an evocative voice and situational code-switching. Final illustrations not seen.
A skillful sequel that adds new layers to a coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0711-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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