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A review by corncobwebs
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri
Stark black-and-white illustrations tell the story of Robert “Yummy” Sandifer, an 11-year-old gang member. Yummy thinks he’ll gain favor with the higher-ups if he does something to defend the gang’s honor. He pulls a gun on a group of rivals who are trespassing on his gang’s territory, but accidentally shoots a 14-year-old girl instead. Yummy is able to escape the scene, and is harbored by various gang members and allies. But when hiding Yummy becomes too much of a liability, two teenage members of his gang take him to a secluded part of town and shoot him at point-blank range.
This is an incredibly bleak story. Readers learn about how Yummy loved candy, and some scenes show him with a favorite teddy bear. He was just a little boy - how did this happen? I’m glad I’m aware of this story now, but it left a lot of questions hanging in the air. I wanted to know more about Yummy and his family, but maybe that information just wasn’t accessible to put into the story. I was also interested in learning about the race and class debates that must have ensued after the two murders, but maybe the point of the book is to leave the discussion up to readers.
There’s a TIME article that came out after Yummy’s murder which I’m anxious to read, but I have no idea if it gives a fair and balanced account of what happened. I just checked my library system, and a keyword search on “Robert Sandifer” only brought up G. Neri’s book. I didn’t see any other titles on Goodreads or Amazon, either. Seems like someone would have written a more comprehensive treatment of the event, but I haven’t located it yet. Guess I’ll just have to track down that TIME article for now.
This is an incredibly bleak story. Readers learn about how Yummy loved candy, and some scenes show him with a favorite teddy bear. He was just a little boy - how did this happen? I’m glad I’m aware of this story now, but it left a lot of questions hanging in the air. I wanted to know more about Yummy and his family, but maybe that information just wasn’t accessible to put into the story. I was also interested in learning about the race and class debates that must have ensued after the two murders, but maybe the point of the book is to leave the discussion up to readers.
There’s a TIME article that came out after Yummy’s murder which I’m anxious to read, but I have no idea if it gives a fair and balanced account of what happened. I just checked my library system, and a keyword search on “Robert Sandifer” only brought up G. Neri’s book. I didn’t see any other titles on Goodreads or Amazon, either. Seems like someone would have written a more comprehensive treatment of the event, but I haven’t located it yet. Guess I’ll just have to track down that TIME article for now.