Twenty-three short chapters relate the street life of 13-year-old Alex. They also tell the stories of some of teenagers and children he meets while living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Sometimes readers find out how or why certain young people get to the point of sleeping on cardboard, begging, selling their bodies or their souls. The personal stories are no prettier than the street life, reflecting almost countless varieties of violence, sexual abuse and poverty. To youth attempting to survive such situations, it sometimes seems safer to try and survive on the street than at home. Sometimes they form what might be called families in their attempts to stay alive. Their gritty lives are not sensationalized, nor are they glamorized. Holtwijk’s note tells a bit about the shelter for homeless street children where Alex ends up, and he reasons why it can be difficult for street children accustomed to independence to adjust to shelter rules. Not a book for the faint-hearted, this book provides depth to news accounts of communities of street children the world over. (Age 14-18)