A.R. Book Level: 3.5
A.R. Points: 8.0
Pages: 350
There's always something that irritates me in Avi's books, and in the case of CITY OF ORPHANS, it's the narrator. The story is set in New York City in 1893, and I'm not sure what kind of slang people used back then, but I really wanted to roll my eyes every time the narrator referred to somebody as a "mug." Once I got past the wording, though, I REALLY enjoyed the story. Maks is a newsie, a boy who earns 8 cents a day selling newspapers, and when he is chased by a nasty gang of older boys, he meets Willa, a girl who lives alone in an alley. After facing the gang, Maks and Willa take on a bigger challenge: solving the mystery of who framed Maks's sister for theft. She is sitting in jail awaiting her trial, and Maks seems to be the only one in his family of immigrants who understands America enough to get the job done. Readers who love mysteries, historical fiction, and old-fashioned back-alley brawls will like this gritty story.