So begins Sharon Flake’s highly anticipated new novel a moving story of an unlikely friendship. He’s ten years old, like me, and rides a bike a two wheeler with rusty spokes and torn up seat. Every day right after school I run to my bedroom window and open it wide even in the middle of winter when the wind blows wet snow up my nose. I live in a castle, right across the street from the John Howard Housing Projects. The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street One wrong turn and it could all be over for him, too.

Now Mann, struggling to find his way back to civilization, must also reconcile himself to the realities of a world that has stolen his little brother, and that isn t even sure it still wants Mann in it.

His father, at his wit s end, does the only thing he thinks will teach his son how to be a man: he abandons him and his friend Kee Lee in the woods, leaving them to navigate their way home, alone. Mann used to paint and ride horseback, but now he s doing everything he can to escape his emotions: getting involved in fights at school, joyriding at midnight, and much worse. Mann s mother has stopped eating and is obsessed with preserving Jason s memory, while his father is certain that presenting a hard edge is the only way to keep his remaining son from becoming a statistic. His family is still reeling from the tragic shooting death of his little brother, Jason, each person coping with grief in his or her own way. Mann is only thirteen, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go through in a lifetime. That’s cause they ain t meant to be in one, I guess. Bang! And people bleed from everywhere, and blood is redder than you think. Bank on it.īang! Guns really sound like that, you know. Will she and Momma ever move out of the projects? What did Ja’nae do with the two hundred bucks Raspberry loaned her? And what’s really going on with Momma and that rich doctor? A haunting story of greed and forgiveness by the award winning author of The Skin I’m In, this unforgettable novel will keep you glued to every page. But even money can’t answer the questions that keep Raspberry awake at night. And, when money is your best friend, there’s more to do than hold it. When the green stuff greases her palm, she gets comfort from feeling its crinkly paper power. Memories of being homeless, sleeping in the streets, and eating handouts keep Raspberry’s eye on the only prize that matters to her: cold, hard cash. She will do just about anything legal to get her hands on the almighty dollar wash cars, sell rotten candy, skip lunch, clean houses. Thirteen year old Raspberry Hill is starved for money.

Money hungry by sharon g flake