Listen to the First Chapter:
From the Book Jacket:
Author's Note: Robert "Yummy" Sandifer was a real person. He was born in 1983 and lived in the Roseland area of Chicago. At just eleven years old, Yummy became a poster child for youth gang violence in America after a series of tragic events led to his appearance on the cover of TIME magazine in September 1994. The essence of Yummy's story presented in this book has been re-created based on public records, media reports, and personal accounts. A certain amount of fictionalization was necessary to fill in gaps, condense events, and represent what Yummy might have been feeling. Roger, the narrator of this story, was invented to guide us, a means of trying to make sense of the madness that hit Roseland in the summer of 1994. I invite you, like Roger, to sort through all the opinions that poured in from the community, media, and politicians, and discover your own truth about Yummy.
Reviews:
A haunting, ripped-from-the-headlines account of youth gang violence in Chicago provides the backdrop for a crucial mediation on right and wrong. The fictional Roger, Neri’s protagonist and moral compass, revisits the cautionary tale of classmate Robert “Yummy” Sandifer, an 11-year-old shorty with a sweet tooth, in this dramatic re-creation of his brief life. During the sweltering summer of 1994, Yummy’s gang initiation goes horribly awry: A bullet intended for rival gangsters accidentally cuts down Shavon Dean, 14, a former childhood playmate. As the nation—from Time magazine to then-President Clinton—reels with shock, Yummy goes into hiding, setting the stage for Roger to investigate the “Little Killer’s” beginnings before the summer, and Yummy’s life, comes to a grisly end. DuBurke’s raw illustrations evoke the heightened emotions of the time. The artist adeptly balances the contradictions of Yummy’s life, as scenes of exaggerated violence (torching cars and looting stores) slowly dissolve into typical childhood vignettes (pet frogs and beloved teddy bears). A much-needed look at the terrifying perils of life on the margins that will have all readers pondering the heady question of moral responsibility.
-- Kirkus Reviews
In 1994, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, a 14-year-old girl named Shavon Dean was killed by a stray bullet during a gang shooting. Her killer, Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, was 11 years old. Neri recounts Yummy's three days on the run from police (and, eventually, his own gang) through the eyes of Roger, a fictional classmate of Yummy's. Roger grapples with the unanswerable questions behind Yummy's situation, with the whys and hows of a failed system, a crime-riddled neighborhood, and a neglected community. How could a smiling boy, who carried a teddy bear and got his nickname from his love of sweets, also be an arsonist, an extortionist, a murderer? Yet as Roger mulls reasons, from absentee parenting to the allure of gang membership, our picture of Yummy only becomes more obscure. Neri's straightforward, unadorned prose is the perfect complement to DuBurke's stark black-and-white inks; great slabs of shadow and masterfully rendered faces breathe real, tragic life into the players. Like Roger, in the end readers are left with troubling questions and, perhaps, one powerful answer: that they can choose to do everything in their power to ensure that no one shares Yummy's terrible fate. -- Publishers Weekly