Ten Mile River

by Paul Griffin

Book Overview

Best friends Ray and Jose are not your typical teenagers. They've escaped foster care and juvenile detention centers to live on their own together in an abandoned stationhouse in New York City's Ten... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142419834
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Speak
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Richie's Picks: TEN MILE RIVER

"Some gangbanger leaned out of a bass-booming, cruising Mercedes, chucked a Dunkin' Donuts bag into the street. A flock of lean pigeons dropped down on the fresh trash. "'How'd I get here?' Ray said to the pigeons. "The pigeons didn't give a damn about Ray. They pecked that Dunkin' waste as if it were manna." We never do learn how fourteen-year-old Ray got there -- how he ended up parentless or how he had originally fallen in with fifteen-year-old Jose. The pair are homeless-but-not-exactly-homeless in New York City: They have discovered and fixed up an old abandoned railroad stationhouse hidden deep in the woods of a West Harlem park. They've tapped into a streetlight for electricity and into the hub of a nearby apartment building for high speed cable service. They've dragged home an assortment of used-but-working appliances other people have thrown away and have stolen themselves a big screen TV. They've also attracted a pack of sweet, abandoned pit bulls. Occasionally they have to temporarily abandon ship when random pipe heads stumble upon the stationhouse and briefly hunker down to cook their methamphetamine. But all in all, "As long as they kept a low profile they could do what they wanted, and they did." Ray is a large, overweight, contemplative, and compassionate kid. He is also an obsessive reader and collector of information. Jose is the opposite -- small and ripped, a player, and a master of malapropisms. He's a functionally illiterate know-it-all adolescent hoodlum who is always scheming and never worrying "about what rotten thing might happen next." Being that they are running together, Ray inevitably gets dragged along in the wake of Jose's dangerous and criminal schemes despite being offered a way out of that way of life by the proprietor of Yolanda's Braid Palace who, with her teenage niece, has seen the saving grace in Ray. "'Four hours ago I'm promisin her I'm-a go clean, here I am again, hidin in the park bushes, lookin to boost an eighty-five-thousand-dollar ride that's gonna be used as an escape vehicle for drug runners, a hit maybe?" TEN MILE RIVER is in equal parts grit and heart. A spectacular first novel by screenwriter Paul Griffin, it's got all the right stuff to make it a major favorite of adolescent reluctant readers and other fans of contemporary YA fiction. Readers will care about and will long continue to wonder about this sensitive beast of a teen who must learn to steer his own ship as he seeks to understand what it takes to become a man.

Ten Mile River

My first thought when I finished this book was that I need to get a copy for my teenage nephew who doesn't like to read. Even he wouldn't be able to help himself from getting immersed in the fascinating and crazy world that Jose and Ray inhabit. The sharply written dialogue really brings the characters to life and you can't help but root for them. I couldn't believe it when I got to the end, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I am looking forward to the next novel from this talented author.

Wonderful book for teenagers

I'm buying this book for all the numerous teenage boys I know in this city who don't like to read. They will no doubt be fascinated by Ray and Jose's street smarts and their story of survival and adventure. Best of all, I can feel good knowing I gave them a book that is well written and full of heart! Can't wait to see more from this author...he's obviously got a long career ahead of him.

It touched my heart!

Remember Holden Caulfield trying in vain to remove the graffiti from the bathroom stalls in CATCHER IN THE RYE? Imagine him today as a homeless teen in NYC......a sensitive youth in an insensitive world just trying to survive. That is the world Paul Griffin creates for us in TEN MILE RIVER, the first book by this promising new author. It's tough, raw, harsh, and unlike anything I have ever encountered living in the suburbs. However, having spent a summer as a teacher at South Philadelphia HS, the book rings true for me. I only wish it had been part of my curriculum! The students would love it. Teachers pay attention; this is the "hook" you have been looking for in your classroom! It's a quick read filled with folks you learn to care about while exposing you to some rough realities of homeless living. Ray and Jose have survival skills that would make Outward Bound grads envious. Who among us could do as well? My only disappointment came when the book ended. I want to know more about these characters!

Not just for youth!

A friend recommended this book because I'm a teacher, so I took a break from another to "try it" and I couldn't put it down! I read this book in 2 days and caught my breath twice in doing so! Great characters and good suspense make it ripe for the classroom and a quick summer read for anyone. I want more! What really happens to RAY?!?