The King of Mulberry Street (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The King of Mulberry Street Hope Morrison Napoli, Donna Jo The King of Mulberry Street. Lamb, 2005245p Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90890-3$17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-74653-9$15.95 R Gr. 6-9 Nine-year-old Dom arrives in New York from Napoli, Italy, alone and ends up where most Napoletani arriving in New York in the late nineteenth century end up: Mulberry Street. After a rough start, Dom gains the friendship of Gaetano, a streetwise teenager, and Tin Pan Alley, a boy who plays the triangle for change and reports to a padrone, a boss who paid his ticket in exchange for his bound labor. Believing his mother accidentally missed the boat, Dom is determined to make some money and return to her in Napoli; fortunately, he's got a head for commerce, and before long, the three boys are running a sandwich operation on a Wall Street corner. Business is lucrative, if dangerous, especially because Tin Pan Alley's padrone could arrive at any minute and see that the boy isn't playing his triangle; in the end, Tin Pan Alley runs away from the padrone only to be found and brutally beaten to death. Napoli's novel, which is partly based upon the life of her own grandfather, offers a deftly layered depiction of a boy forced to grow up by circumstances beyond his control. Because the story is told from Dom's point of view, many of the facts surrounding his departure are left obscured (as they [End Page 277] would have been to Dom), but readers willing to wait for the picture to clear will find many rewards. The interplay of the three boy characters is especially effective; each is developed as a strong and distinctive individual who contributes to the storyline. The well-written ending deals effectively with both the tragedy of Tin Pan Alley's death and Dom's eventual acceptance that his mother intentionally sent him alone. Young people are likely to find this tale of youth survival both an empowering and enjoyable read. An author's note explains the family history on which the story is based. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois