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When writing There Are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz immersed himself in the lives of the Rivers family. He follows Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers through their life and growth in an impoverished, violence ridden community in Chicago. The contrast between the childrens’ youth and lack of innocence was upsetting and eye opening. Kotlowitz, a journalist who met the Rivers’ when writing a piece for Chicago magazine, clearly narrates and explains the day-to-day events at Henry Horner, the apartment
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The story, There Are No Children Here, follows the lives of two young boys, Lafayette and Pharaoh, who are living in a complex with their mother, LaJoe Rivers, in what is known as the “Ghetto” in Chicago from 1987 to 1989. The story includes the hardships that these two boys face including gang violence, emotional scarring, and money scarcity. One of the main themes of this book as is included in the title is that Lafayette and Pharaoh have experienced so much that they are not like normal child
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