gangs

A brief biography, in graphic novel format, of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer, an eleven-year old African American gang member from Chicago who went on the run after shooting a young girl and was later found dead, shot by members of his own gang.

In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty, a poor, fifteen-year-old gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a hospital and as he grows weaker, he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804.

Rivalry between rich and poor gangs in 1960s Oklahoma leads to the deaths of three teenagers and intense soul-searching for one of the youths involved, a sensitive fourteen-year-old writer named Ponyboy.

Fifteen-year-old Blaise Montgomery joins a gang called Core 9 and she is used to lure rival gang members by Trek to exact revenge, but when things become increasingly dangerous with each situation, she realizes there is more to lose than she ever realized.

Fascinated by the world of street gangs and in love with the drug addicted leader of one of them, a teenage girl is caught up in violence, heroin, and death.

"Eleven-year-old Mor was used to hearing his father's voice, even if no one else could since his father's death. It was comforting. It was also a reminder that Mor had made a promise to his father before he passed: keep your sisters safe. Keep the family together. But almost as soon as they are orphaned, that promise seems impossible to keep. With an aunt from the big city ready to separate him and his sisters as soon as she arrives, and a gang of boys from a nearby village wanting everything he has--including his spirit--Mor is tested in ways he never imagined. With only the hot summer months to prove himself, Mor must face a choice. Does he listen to his father and keep his heart true, but risk breaking his promise through failure? Or is it easier to just join the Danka Boys, whom in all their maliciousness are at least loyal to their own?"--Amazon.com.

It's Christmas Eve in Harlem, but twelve-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren't celebrating. They're still reeling from his older brother's death in a gang-related shooting just a few months earlier.

Tina and her mother first arrived in Kenya as refugees from Congo desperately searching for a better life. They can barely believe their luck when Tina's mother finds work as a maid for the Greyhills, one of the city's most illustrious families. But when Tina discovers her mother shot dead in Mr. Greyhill's private study, she knows he pulled the trigger. With revenge on her mind, Tina spends the next four years surviving the streets on her own, training as a master thief - waiting for her chance.

"A boy tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother's death"--Amazon.

Ten-year-old Beans Curry, a member of the Keepsies, the best marble playing gang in Depression-era Key West, Florida, engages in various schemes to earn money while "New Dealers" from Washington, D.C., arrive to turn run down Key West into a tourist resort.