Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Nov. 15, 2006 (Vol. 103, No. 6))
Weaving in historical details and characters, tough talk, and nonstop action, Brown builds his story around immigrants from Europe in the 1890s that found their way to the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side. While his father, a tailor, is "sewing buttonholes for eight cents a hundred," 13-year-old Sam Glodsky, half Irish and half Jewish, is trying to survive as a newsboy, on the run from youth gangs of "Dagos," "Micks," and "Yids," as well as adult gangsters and corrupt coppers. The cast is huge, and there's a lot going on, making it sometimes difficult to sort out who's who and where everyone's loyalties lie. But an afterword, which talks about what's "true and real," provides some context, and the book is honest about both the bitter struggle for survival and the ugly prejudice. Every lively sentence Brown has written lends insight into American diversity. For books on more recent immigrant experiences, see "Core Collection: The New Immigration Story," in the August 2005 issue of Booklist. Category: Books for Older Readers--Fiction. 2006, Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $16.95.

Triss Robinson (Children's Literature)
Sam Glodsky is a boy that lives on the streets of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. Sam is a member of one of the many street gangs in the city. He has an invalid father that is unable to make much money, so it falls on Sam to find odd jobs wherever he can. Izzy Fink is a member of a rival gang. There is bad blood between these two boys. All of New York hears about a ship that is docked in the harbor. There is a cholera outbreak on board, and no one is getting off. A gangster named Monk Eastman has a prize-winning racing pigeon on board. He hires Sam and Izzy to sneak on board the ship and bring it to him unhurt. Sam can’t refuse the money. However, this is where things start to fall apart for him. He barely makes it off the ship before it sets sail. Izzy then takes full credit for rescuing the pigeon, so Sam is paid only a small share of the money. Monk discovers the pigeon has a broken wing, and has the pigeon killed. Monk blames both boys for his loss and makes violent threats towards them, which sends them into hiding. Together the boys help each other get away from Monk. With help from Sam’s friends and his father, Monk agrees to leave the boys alone. Sam goes back to selling newspapers and resumes his life a little wiser. This realistic story gives the reader a glimpse into how poor kids learned to survive on the streets of New York, and the hardships they faced. 2006, Roaring Brook Press, $16.95. Ages 10 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 14))
Recruited from the streets of the Lower East Side in the 1890s, Sam and Izzy must retrieve gangster boss Monk Eastman's prize racing pigeon from a cholera ship anchored in the harbor, thus bringing them into a dangerous relationship with the vicious mobster. There is plenty of action-gang fights, stealing aboard the eerie death ship, facing the wrath of a displeased crime boss-but New York City itself steals the show here, and Brown does an unusually fine job of evoking children's life on the streets, hawking newspapers, picking pockets, mucking out stables-anything to make pennies. Short chapters, a brisk pace, lively dialogue and a compelling plot provide a totally engaging tale. Though readers may object to coarse words and ethnic slurs mouthed by characters, such language is as much a part of the flavor and authenticity the novel strives for as the descriptions of pushcarts, newsies and tenements. A good match with Deborah Hopkinson's Shutting Out the Sky (2003) and Brown's own picture book Kid Blink Beats the World (2004). (author's note) 2006, Deborah Brodie/Roaring Brook, 160p, $16.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 11 to 14. Starred Review. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Bonnie L. Raasch (Library Media Connection, February 2007)
Thirteen-year-old Sam ekes out a living in 1890s New York City by picking up coal from a passing wagon, cleaning horse stables, and selling newspapers on the street corner. Always on the alert for rival gang member Izzy, Sam fends for himself because his father is still suffering from Sam's mother's death two years before. Monk the gangster hires Sam and Izzy to sneak onto a cholera-quarantined ship to rescue one of Monk's prized pigeons. When Sam is double-crossed by Izzy, Sam ends up being caged with the pigeons. Who should rescue him but his pop who has finally come out of his depression! Each short chapter is filled with lively adventures, bringing to life street scenes from old New York City. It's fun to follow Sam as he comes up with new ways to earn a few pennies. An addendum tells what in the story is real (Jacob Riis, Dr. Biggs who fought the cholera epidemic, police chief Devery, gangster Monk Eastman) and what's not. Slang terms (horse shit, Dago, Mick) reflect the times. This novel could be used in social studies classes as a literature tie-in when studying turn-of-the-century America. Recommended. 2006, Roaring Brook Press, 160pp., $16.95 hc. Ages 12 to 18.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 3))
Red-haired Sam Glodsky, son of a Jewish father and Irish mother, has one foot in each of two worlds in 1899 New York, with various street gangs either accepting or targeting him, depending on how they choose to identify his cultural roots on any given day. Izzy Fink, though, is his sworn enemy, a streetwise scrapper who never passes up an opportunity to raise his fists to Sam. When a shipload of cholera-stricken immigrants is quarantined in the harbor, gangster Monk Eastman enlists the aid of both boys to heist a prize racing pigeon from the vessel and insists they work the job together. When the pigeon is successfully delivered, Izzy takes the credit; when the pigeon turns up with a broken wing, Izzy’s life isn’t worth a wooden nickel and he begs Sam’s help in spiriting him away from the vengeful Eastman. Much of the early story reads like little more than a set-up to the extended chase scenes on tenement rooftops and in underground dives, and Brown doesn’t make much of the inherent tension of a looming cholera epidemic. Ambient details of the gritty immigrant ghettos and children’s desperation and resourcefulness in scraping up a few penny’s worth of work each day are involving, though, as are the salty language and the mingling of such real life characters as Eastman, muckraker Jacob Riis, pathologist Hermann Biggs, and corrupt Police Chief Devery in the fictional mayhem. A closing note supplies needed background, biography, and observations on the problem of accurately capturing street kids’ colloquialisms. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Brodie/Roaring Brook, 160p.; Reviewed from galleys, $16.95. Grades 6-8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2007)
Sam Glodsky is an enterprising young fellow, but he may have gone too far to make a buck when he steals a valuable racing pigeon for a neighborhood gangster. Set on the streets of New York's Lower East Side during the turn of the twentieth century, this well-paced novel features a good sense of humor, an excellent depiction of place, and winning characterizations. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2006, Roaring Brook/Brodie, 150pp, 16.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Cindy Lombardo (VOYA, October 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 4))
Brown's somewhat convoluted story, filled with fights, fisticuffs, Lower East Side slang, and rooftop escapades, provides readers with a wonderful multisensory look at gang life on the streets of New York at the turn of the last century. Thirteen-year-old Sam Glodsky earns a meager living through his wits and good fortune, making just enough to keep body and soul together for himself and his widowed father. When an opportunity arises to work with his sworn enemy, the "notorious" Izzy Fink, Sam embarks on a risky scheme to rescue a valuable racing pigeon belonging to gangster Monk Eastman from the cargo hold of a ship infected with cholera. Fans of the film The Gangs of New York will relish the rough-and-tumble adventures of Sam and his friends, despite a somewhat improbable plot and one-dimensional characters. The author's discussion of what is and is not "true" in the book is as interesting as the story itself. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P J (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Roaring Brook, 160p., $16.95. Ages 12 to 15.