The Boy without a Flag
Tales of the South Bronx
by Abraham Rodriguez Jr.
Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. says The Boy Without a Flag is “about the rancid
underbelly of the American Dream. These are the kids no one likes to
talk about; they are seen as the enemy by most people. I want to show
them as they really are, not as society wishes them to be.”
In these truth-telling stories about his neighborhood of Puerto Rican
adolescents growing up in the South Bronx, Rodriguez introduces us to
the youth who fight every day for survival in our cities.
(Reissue)
Contributors: Drawings by R.W. Scholes
Abraham Rodriguez
Author's Bio:Abraham Rodriguez Jr. is the author of Spidertown. He lives in the South Bronx.
Awards:A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, 1992
The New York Public Library's “Books to Remember,” 1993
The New York Public Library's “Books for the Teen Age,” 1993 Quotes:“Mr. Rodriquez's descriptions of the
bleak lives of his South Bronx teen-agers have a knifelike
precision. . . . In the quiet sophistication of his title story. . .'The
Boy Without a Flag,' a precocious schoolboy. . .refuses to salute the
American flag. Desperate for some attention from his father. . .a
Puerto Rican nationalist. . .the boy hopes this defiant act may earn
the man's respect. . . . This poignant story derives its power from a rare
emotional depth.” —New York Times Book Review
“These
stories are unsentimental accounts of the lives of angry children who
are forced to grow up too quickly, whose small triumphs are almost
always overwhelmed by the relentless tragedy of inner-city America. . .
. Rodriguez's focus on troubled young women shows an unusual
sensitivity
to how male dominance ultimately subjugates them. . . . These stories
are
uncompromisingly bleak, and brilliant.” —VLS
“It's clear we're in
the hands of a young, ethnic-American writer of brilliant potential. I
would not want to miss any story Rodriguez writes. . . . All shattered
glass, fresh blood, broken dreams, dead-end streets, empty spirits. .
.But there's language, that music of the ethnic-American tongue, which
Rodriguez renders in narrative that lifts even the darkness of his
themes to something like song.”—Forkroads
“Unforgettable. . . . From a
place where schooling promises nothing, where television means escapism
into the World Series and Lotto drawings, Rodriguez miraculously
appears. He is these kids' bard, and he deserves to be
heard.”—Albuquerque Journal
“How
better to bring the streets of the South Bronx into the classroom. . .
. All [students] felt it helped them better understand risks to
children living in poverty.”—Lois Putnam, Columbia University, New York
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