Asphalt Angels

A Review by CalebAsphalt Angels is about a 13 year-old boy named Alex. After his loving mother dies, he is thrown out onto the streets by his cruel stepfather. He makes his humble home there and meets a street gang called the Asphalt Angels. He is always trying to keep his hopes and dreams up but he is constantly pressured to sniff glue, steal and kill. Asphalt Angels is a interesting story. Based on a true story, it follows the life of Alex in a bad way. I feel that the way they portrayed the streets wasn't strong enough or it did not convince me enough. On almost every other page there was something about how either Alex or one of his friends was making money by hold-ups or stealing. The book had a lot of controversial topics such as sniffing glue and prostitution.

This book gives an insight into a world few of us know. Without being sentimental, Holtwijk describes the hopes and fears of kids living on the streets of Rio. Their lives are hard to imagine, but Holtwijk, who lives there and sees it everyday, comes close. Asphalt Angels recently won the Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Award. Ms. Batchelder is a former executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children, and believer in the importance of good books for children in translation from all parts of the world. Asphalt Angels contributes in a significant way to Batchelder's work of eliminating "barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages." Your children will find this an eye-opener. Or, if you are heading there, read it yourself, besides the tourist guide of Rio!