City of Orphans by Avi - ESSENTIAL

Avi City of Orphans, 350 pgs. Atheneum Books, 2011. $17.00. Language: PG (4 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG;

 Maks Geless is a thirteen-year-old Danish immigrant living in New York in 1893. He earns much needed money for his family by selling newspapers. One day Willa, a homeless girl, helps him fight off an attack by the Plug Uglies (a local gang in the habit of robbing newsies). Together, Maks and Willa must avoid being attacked by gangs as they try to prove that Maks’s sister Emma is innocent of stealing from a patron at the Waldorf Hotel where she works. 

In typical Avi fashion, the book creates a vivid picture of life during a specific time period (in this case, the late 1800s in the city of New York). I felt like I was there witnessing the distinctions between the rich owners and operators and the poor immigrants living in tenements or on the streets-- struggling to survive. The story takes place over a five-day time period, so each day is packed full of adventure and emotion clear until the end. 

EL-MS – ESSENTIAL. Reviewer: M. Mathews, middle school librarian.