And it’s built piece by piece, Lego block by Lego block. The answer, as Moore shows us, is in community. Who can blame these kids for wanting that? How do you make it through the day when the pressure of keeping a new coat or a cellphone from being jacked is overwhelming? It’s a struggle to pay bills and put food on the table, while facing the challenge of keeping young people, especially teenage sons, from joining “crews” for protection and comfort. His current girlfriend, named Heike, is white, German-born and a “professional fire-breather” who can “shoot flames out of her mouth to entertain everybody.” It is noteworthy that the adults in this story are more easily able to embrace childish pursuits than the kids.Īt the start of the novel it’s been just two months since Lolly’s big brother Jermaine was shot outside a nightclub in the Bronx. The boy’s father has a job in construction and is hired out on weekends as a birthday party clown. She brings Lolly large bags of Legos as gifts. Her girlfriend, Yvonne, works as a custodian at an impressive midtown toy store (presumably modeled after F. His mom, who calls herself Trini after her parents’ home country, even though she’s never been there, is a security guard who collects Pez dispensers. He is a “coconut,” a brown-skinned boy whose grandparents and father were born on the island of Trinidad. He lives with his gay mom, has a mostly absent dad and likes building things with Legos more than playing video games.
Venturing one block out of the neighborhood’s protected zone to go to a bodega, where rice and plantains can be had on credit, means facing down the enemy. There are possible dire consequences in the simple act of crossing 125th Street.
Being inside the head of Lolly Rachpaul is like hopping on a roller coaster to navigate your everyday life. It’s even harder when you are a 12-year-old boy living in the projects in Harlem and you’ve just lost your beloved older brother. It’s not just a narrative it’s an experience.
David Barclay Moore’s debut, “The Stars Beneath Our Feet,” is the right story at the right time, and it’s set in the right place. (Middle grade ages 10 & up)Ī great book can open a door and show the reader a complex world that entertains, enlightens and informs. THE STARS BENEATH OUR FEET By David Barclay Moore 294 pages.
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