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A review by maryehavens
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri
4.0
Very short, impact read on gang violence in 1994 told through a fictional character about a real event. Robert "Yummy" Sandifer desperately wanted to belong - he took a life and then lost his own at 11 years old. My own son is 11 and to think that he would lose his innocence so soon, and so hard, to be as misguided as Yummy is, thankfully, unfathomable to me. But not so for many others.
Neri presents this work as a "make up your own mind" about Yummy. But he points out, it's not so black and white. And it's not. Lots of tragic events created Yummy's mistake and fate. His entire life is further evidence of a broken system, all the way around.
It's hard to rate a book like this. It's just so hard to wrap my head around. I'm not going to share it with my children (if they pick it up, that's fine, but it's not a "must read" like "I Am Alfonso Jones" or the March series, which they couldn't really understand) because I don't know that it will teach them much beyond "some people live these lives. You have privilege and choice - something not everyone has - so do something with these gifts." Maybe I'll just leave it around and let them decide.
Neri presents this work as a "make up your own mind" about Yummy. But he points out, it's not so black and white. And it's not. Lots of tragic events created Yummy's mistake and fate. His entire life is further evidence of a broken system, all the way around.
It's hard to rate a book like this. It's just so hard to wrap my head around. I'm not going to share it with my children (if they pick it up, that's fine, but it's not a "must read" like "I Am Alfonso Jones" or the March series, which they couldn't really understand) because I don't know that it will teach them much beyond "some people live these lives. You have privilege and choice - something not everyone has - so do something with these gifts." Maybe I'll just leave it around and let them decide.