A Hero Ain't Nothin but a Sandwich by Alice Childress
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(Paperback)
- Age Range: Young Adult
- Pub. Date: February 2000
- 128pp
- Sales Rank: 93,172
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: February 2000
- Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
- Format: Paperback, 128pp
- Sales Rank: 93,172
- Age Range: Young Adult
- ISBN-13: 9780698118546
- ISBN: 0698118545
Annotation
The life of a thirteen-year-old Harlem youth on his way to becoming a confirmed heroin addict is seen from his viewpoint and from that of several people around him.
Children's Literature
The view of inner city life that emerges in this book is both gripping and depressing. Benjie's drug addiction is described from his own viewpoint and that of others involved in his life. He thinks he can quit anytime he chooses. Benjie comes across as a likeable, although unrealistic, teenager with many people who care about him. His relationship with his stepfather is the most fully developed exploring Benjie's resentments and his stepfather's true concern and willingness to help. His mother and grandmother feel beaten down, not only by Benjie's problems, but also by society. His friend laments his role in getting Benjie started in the drug scene. His teachers offer varying viewpoints. One viewpoint blames society, the other expresses frustration--both wanting to help. The authentic dialects and expressions convey the desperation of inner city life. This reissue of Childress' book describes the heartbreak of drug addiction for everyone involved with the addict. 2000 (orig. 1973), Puffin/Penguin, Ages 10 to 15, $15.95 and $4.99. Reviewer: Phyllis Kennemer
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This Book Was Awsomeby Anonymous
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January 13, 2006: The main character in A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (written by Alice Childress) is Benjie, an African-American thirteen year old boy who lives in the bad part of town, where racism and violence are norm, and drugs are the only way out. Benjie lives in a apartment with his grandmother Mrs. Ransom Bell, his mom Rose 'Sweets' Johnson (soon to be Rose Johnson Craig), and his soon-to-be stepfather Butler Craig, who he has made up his mind to hate because he thinks that Butler's trying to take his mother from him. Whenever he is challenged by a problem at home or school, he resorts to denial and drugs. He steals from his family for drug money ('I had to take three bucks outta my grandmother's pocketbook, but I wasn't stealin it... I knew Jimmy-Lee would lend me three singles so I could slip back what was borrowed before anyone found out.'), but flatly denies being addicted to drugs, like when he says 'I take somethin sometime, but I ain't no user.' His other fault is that he thinks the world is against him. He dumps his friend Jimmy-Lee when he stops doing drugs and tells Benjie that he should do the same, it makes Benjie feel like a lesser person. He hates his teachers when they turn him in when he was high in class, and he hates everyone who says that he has a drug problem because, as he says, he doesn't have a drug problem. He believes that no one understands him, and he needs someone to believe that he isn't just some thirteen-year-old-junkie. But he won't let anyone believe in him. He knows they have no reason to like him, so they must not. Only when Butler stops him from jumping off a building does he find the person who had already believed in him. Benjie's main problem seems to be that he uses drugs, which hurts his life. He steals from his family and pushes his true friend away. Teachers constantly find him high in class, staring out the window, wondering where he's going to get his next hit. He agues with family, sometimes for no reason at all. But when the people around him try to clean his veins of skag and offer him help and comfort, he just pushes them away. People give up on him every time he goes back to drugs, thinking that they've done all they could to save Benjie. But what they don't realize is that their solution to Benji's problem didn't work because they were solving the wrong problem. Nobody can stop Benjie from using drugs because they don't give him a reason not to. One time he says 'Please God,' I prayed, 'send me a friend, someone to be crazy bout me Pleeeeease, God!' Clearly he wants someone to believe in him, and eventually he does say that he wants somebody to believe that is more than a thirteen-year-old junkie. But without that person, drugs are the only way to handle life for Benjie. Benjie finds his prayer when his previously hated stepfather saves Benjie from falling off his New York apartment roof, and showing him he really does care about him, does Benjie stop shooting up and starts to try to make his way in life. When you read this book, you get completely lost in it, and the characters come completely alive. You could see exactly what their personalities were, how they fitted into the community, and their thought process and feelings. Many a time, you almost expect to feel their warm breath as they exhale. What made this story so interesting andreal was the slang, misspelling, and the use of multiple views. When you are told that Benjie hates Butler, you are on Benjie's side, until...
a hero aint nothin but a sandwhichby Anonymous
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June 30, 2005: This is the best book I have ever read. I saw the movie on a field trip for school when I was younger. This story has always stayed with me. I am faced with an issue close to this one. And I have to remind myself that, ' A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN BUT A SANDWHICH!!! I LOVE THIS BOOK
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