City of Orphans

City of Orphans by Avi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another good story from Avi, with a tale of turn-of-the-century New York, very poor immigrant families, tough gangs and cruel gang bosses. This book is a detective story wrapped around a family story. The story moves along quickly, and young people today can see how life was quite difficult for the immigrants back in the old days. Children are working for very low wages in unsafe conditions, and there is no one to protect them. Maks, the main character, is a thirteen year-old newsboy, who is not in school, but works selling newspapers on the streets, to help out his family. His older sister, who works in the new, Waldorf Astoria hotel, gets arrested for stealing an expensive watch. It's up to Maks to try to get his sister out of jail. With the help of a new friend, a homeless orphan named Willa, the friends do their best to save Maks' sister.


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