Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"Here's what I'm going to do: First I've got to make a plan. And this is part of the plan -- making a plan -- and so I'm doing good already."

"I've seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's like a setting sun"
-- Neil Young

"Then Freddie leans down. 'How 'bout you kid? he asks, all mocking and sweet. 'Want some?'
"Freddy always offers me freebies -- even after he pushes me into the wall so hard I can't breathe. He knows I will say no because I was hooked when I was born, which means I didn't get to go home right away like Maria's baby, and instead I had to live in an incubator and I cried all the time and even though they don't know for sure, this probably accounts for how hyper and not-so-smart as everyone else I am.
"Sometimes, even though I should not be able to remember, I dream about coming off that crap and wake up sweating and time gets all funky. I think I see things that aren't there, and even though I don't have any proof, I'm sure it was Freddie who gave my mom the stuff."

SAINT IGGY is the bittersweet story of New York teenager Iggy Corso, a challenged young man who lives in public housing with a father who is typically to be found crashed out on the rotting couch, "stoned off his ass" and/or drunk. Their smelly and decrepit apartment is packed with broken furniture that his father has picked up off the street on garbage days. Meanwhile, Iggy's addict mother went out "visiting" a month ago and hasn't been seen since. Freddie, who is Iggy's dad's dealer, grew up with Iggy's dad in that same public housing building.

"I think about the facts, and I've failed two grades, been suspended eight times, got caught stealing someone's sneakers, had to go to the Principal's office almost every other day starting in kindergarten when I bit a kid for touching me, and I've been in every kind of program ever invented, like Big Siblings, Tutoring, Homework Help, Map for the Future, and Head Start, and none of it has made any difference, partly because I am lazy and partly because I get distracted in the middle of things instead of finishing."

Iggy is now a sixteen year old high school freshman, and a few days before Christmas vacation he's about to permanently get the boot. A teacher felt threatened when Iggy followed a hot new female student into the teacher's classroom and Iggy insisted he also belonged in the class. After the security guy came and mashed Iggy's face into the concrete, the principal suspended Iggy and scheduled an expulsion hearing. But before Iggy left that day, the principal told him:

" 'You've had a lot to overcome in your life, but that's no excuse for poor discipline. We can all make something of ourselves, no matter what our situation. We can do something that contributes to the world, live a life that has meaning."

Iggy understands that he needs to complete school or he is really going to be without choices. Grasping the principal's words like an inflatable cushion in the aftermath of a plane crash, this teen with so little in skills to work with and so little support becomes determined to try and make a contribution in the next few days, before the hearing, so that he won't be expelled.

This is the extraordinary story of Iggy's quest.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com