Summer 1987, Chapter 1 Summary

There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz chronicles the true story of two brothers growing up in the Henry Horner projects of Chicago over a two year period. Set in the Horner Homes public housing district of Chicago, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, their mother and siblings struggle to survive gun battles, gang influences, over-zealous police officers, and overburdened and mismanaged bureaucracies to simply survive.

The story begins in the summer of 1987. Nine year old Pharoah and his brother Lafeyettte, twelve, venture towards the railroad tracks that run from Chicago's west side to the western suburbs and downtown Chicago. They join six friends and pair up. Pharoah partners with his younger cousin Leonard Anderson, nicknamed Porkchop, a shy but nervous boy. Lafeyette partners with his good friend James Howard whom he grew up with in the same building in the Henry...