Thursday, August 9, 2012

Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri, Performed by JD Jackson

I'm working my way through the 2012 Odyssey Awards, and this title won an honor. I understand why! The narrator's voice is deep, expressive, and somehow sounds just like a 12-year-old boy.

Cole's mom has had enough of him--he's skipping school and getting in trouble with the police. So she drives him from Detroit to Philadelphia and drops him off at his dad's. Cole has never seen his dad, and he isn't thrilled to be at his deadbeat dad's doorstep. And he doesn't know what to think about the HORSES. In buildings in urban Philly---what the heck? That's right--Cole's dad has a street of illegal stables full of horses saved from the slaughterhouse. Cole is resistant, but he realizes that his dad is a good person, as well as the other cowboys who dedicate their lives to take care of the horses. When the city threatens to bulldoze the stables, Cole and his new friends must try to save it, and his new family.

Recommended for tweens.

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