Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri, illustrated by Jesse Watson (Candlewick, Spring 2011)
Suddenly, something big and white bumps up against the car and I jump. I think I must be dreamin’ ’cause I just saw a horse run by.
When Cole’s mom dumps him in mean streets of Philly to live with the dad he’s never met, the last thing Cole expects to see is a horse—let alone a stable full of them. He may not know much about cowboys, but what he knows for sure is that cowboys aren’t black and they don’t live in the inner city. But on Chester Avenue, horses are a way of life, and soon Cole’s days of goofing off and skipping school in Detroit have been replaced by shoveling muck and trying not to get stomped on.
Crazy as it may seem, the lifestyle grows on Cole, and he starts to think that maybe life as a ghetto cowboy isn’t so bad. But when the City threatens to shut down the stables—and take away the horse that Cole has come to think of as his own—he knows that he has to fight back.
Inspired by the real-life inner-city horsemen of Philadelphia and Brooklyn, Ghetto Cowboy is an timeless urban western about learning to stand up for what’s right—the Cowboy Way.
BELOW ARE VIDEOS, PHOTOS, AND ARTICLES OF THE REAL NEIGHBORHOOD IN NORTH PHILADELPHIA THAT INSPIRED THIS STORY....
Videos:
IMAGES:
Most of these images are from the fabulous photography book Fletcher Street.
Harper's place is full of horse stuff: a couple a old saddles, blankets, brushes, work boots, horse things like you see on TV. Instead of furniture, there’s even them square things of hay to sit on. This ain’t no house, it’s a barn.
To top it off, there a big ol’ hole from floor to ceiling knocked into the side of the living room, leading into the place next door, like he just wanted to expand his crib and took over the abandoned one next to his.
I peek inside the hole, but it’s dark ‘cause all the windows is boarded up. But man, it really smells like animal in there. Suddenly, something big moves in the dark and I jump back.
My eyes adjust to a pair of dark eyes staring back at me. It’s a horse. He got a horse in the house.
No wonder Mama left him.
Harper must see my eyes buggin’ out, ‘cause he smirks, “Welcome to Philly, boy.”
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