No Place by Kay Haugaard – Summary & Review

I find the concept of this book quite fascinating. It’s focused around a young boy, Arturo, who lives in a lower income neighborhood in Los Angeles. His older brother has joined a gang, and he is hopeful he will too. He believes that, in doing so, he will be more mature and looked at in a tougher, older way. “He could wear sharp new clothes and drive around in a low rider with the other guys… once he joined the Vatos, nobody would tell him what to do.” (5)

The description of his apartment building and his local neighborhood expose the deplorable conditions that these children are raised in. It’s quite heartbreaking to realize that this part of the story is not fictional; in reality, so many children and families are forced to live in areas that need excessive cleanup and attention. There is trash piled up on the side of the road, broken glass and other unsafe items out in plain view, and no places for them to play, study, or walk around without fear. The children play in old abandoned cars, play with broken glass, and sometimes even with fish heads.

One day their teacher, Miss Fenwick, and a teacher helper named Mr. Moreno, come up with the idea to improve their community. Arturo comes up with the idea to create a community park. The whole premise behind the rest of the book deals with how the class can make this happen; a group of sixth graders with strong motivation can make this happen, but can a group of inner-city children do the same? It’s an interesting concept that I think needs to happen more often, especially with the lessons these children will be learning throughout.

Arturo seems to be the type of child that wants to improve the world, but is also focused on being part of the gang with his brother. His fascination with the new clothes that his brother has and the camaraderie he now has with new friends, makes him jealous. Joining a gang does offer some incentives, especially the bond between members, but does Arturo truly realize what being in a gang means?

Maria, one of his friends, said that her parents commented about the teacher helper who wanted to help create the park, “he’s a dreamer, and dreamers should wake up.” (34) I’ve always wondered why people don’t appreciate the idealists and the dreamers; why should we not keep our head in the clouds and keep envisioning a better future for all of us? Why is it such a bad thing to think of positive ideas and live life through rose colored glasses? Arturo’s father also believes it’s a bad idea, and I can’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t want a place for children to play in?

As they encounter different bumps in the road for the park’s initial development, students are either for or against continuing. Arturo says, “what can we lose?” (34) Instead of questioning whether something won’t work, we should instead be asking what if it does? Why not make the leap? You have a 50-50 shot of it either being successful or it failing. Shouldn’t we all take the time to take that chance?

They decide to send letters to the city government and to the mayor, as well as start a petition. As they are making posters, Maria remarks that Arturo has good handwriting. He embarrassingly thinks about the graffiti he has splattered on walls near his home. Now, this is his chance to do something more positive with his good penmanship and art skills!

The unfortunate part is that Arturo keeps having moments where he is gung-ho and willing to work hard for this park, but then his his best friend, father, or brother will make a negative remark about it, and then he’ll think it’s stupid again and not worth trying for. It’s sad to think of those children, or really even adults, who give up on their dreams because others criticize them or make them feel that their idea is stupid or isn’t worth it. Imagine what could be created if no one cared or listened to the negative thoughts of others?!

Arturo carries around a petition and asks different people to sign it. His aunt Yolanda says, “I’ll do it for you, Arturo, but don’t get your hopes up.” (42) I know it’s important to understand that not everything will work the way you hope it will, but again—why be so negative?!

What’s nice to see is how the teacher is utilizing the park project to teach different concepts. First, they have to learn politics in order to know who to contact to create the park. Second, they have to learn ratios to know how to build a scaled model. Third, they practice their art skills to create the posters and the scaled park. And this is just the beginning of the project — throughout the entire task, the students are learning about so many different aspects and from business practices to designing to writing effectively. I love when you can create educational experiences in the classroom that are real world examples so that students have a better understanding of why they need to learn certain things.

Even though their dream of building this park may not happen Miss Fenwick says, “We don’t have unrealistic hopes…we have learned a lot already about property, government, mathematics — about how to speak up and express ourselves clearly in person and on paper. Mr. Moreno says, “We talk about their chances of winning or losing…the kids know it might not work out. Living in this neighborhood, they are used to seeing things not working.“ (71)

Arturo overhears a woman’s angry voice yelling at Miss Fenwick. “You are crazy! You are taking advantage of those kids for some goofy reason of your own. You know they can’t do anything that big. You are leading them to disappointment and disillusionment.” (80) Personally, children NEED to learn that they can’t always win and that there will be disappointments and failed attempts in life—this is what helps us grow. If we don’t fail, we don’t succeed.

Throughout all of the different conflicts they have to solve in order to raise money for the park, the lessons keep coming from the teacher. I’m just amazed at her quick thinking and how she finds every opportunity for the students to learn. If only all teachers were like her!

Arturo keeps thinking of his brother who has now fully immersed himself in the gang and doesn’t live at home anymore. He mentions that he would still like to join the gang with his brother once he graduates sixth grade, and I’m surprised that he doesn’t yet understand what being in a gang truly means. If he did, I don’t think he would still want to be in one. His brother, Francisco, is his inspiration and he looks up to him, but he can tell that something’s changing about him – he’s thinner and more serious. However, he still gives money to Arturo to give to his parents, so Arturo tries not to think much of it.

A local businessman decides to hold a luncheon for the children, and they must convince prestigious members of the club to support their cause. One of the students decides to play music during the lunch – Cat Stevens’s “Where Do the Children Play?”

Well I think it’s fine, building jumbo planes
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train
Switch on summer from a slot machine
Yes, get what you want to if you want
Cause you can get anything
I know we’ve come a long way
We’re changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?

Students give speeches about the purpose and meaning behind the park, and multiple people in the audience dab at their eyes, just as I did while reading it. “Arturo couldn’t remember when he felt so happy.” What an incredible moment for these students! I’m so anxious to hear if they are successful with these businessmen. It’s also inspirational to read that the students were thinking about their future careers, based on what they had learned and worked on during this activity. Juanita wanted to be a bookkeeper or an accountant and Arturo‘s guest mentioned that he should be a landscape designer. He never knew that you could merge what you enjoy doing with a future career.

Amazingly, the luncheon guests pledged $30,000!!! Then, another local organization decided to match with a pledge of $30,000 as well! Now they have enough money to buy the land, but there are still a lot of steps that have to be taken in order to actually create the park once the land is purchased.

During this important time in Arturo’s and the other children’s lives, his brother Francisco is shot. It’s not fatal, but he is struggling to get better. He’s currently in intensive care and Arturo wonders how he can be so happy about the park project when his brother lay dying in the hospital.

Clorissa, one of the students says, “I want everyone to know how proud and happy I am to belong to a group like this that has accomplished so much. The result shows what great and noble things people can do when they work together. I’m going to remember this all my life, and I know that the little children of this neighborhood will love playing in this park.” (154)
If only amazing things like this could happen more often…Arturo is just so proud to see all that they have accomplished, when so many doubted them in the beginning. “Arturo never thought he would feel eager to get to school every day. Their park project was unfolding so smoothly. Something real was being built – not torn down, not covered with garbage. No one was getting shot, killed, or injured. No, he was helping to create something new that people needed and enjoyed. This project felt so good.” (159)

Even though the park project is turning out to be a major success, and I’ve mentioned multiple times that I don’t appreciate the haters, I still wonder how all of these students are working so well together. As a former teacher, and a current school counselor, I’ve witnessed classrooms sometimes not having a cohesive or strong connection. It’s possible, I’m just surprised that there’s only been one student, Angel, – who didn’t always agree with following through on the park. Every other student has worked well together, voted on different issues, and truly stayed level headed.

Finally, Francisco tells Arturo the dangers of being in a gang; he tells him that he was shot by one of his own men because he wanted out. Arturo finally realizes that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, but he’s still so angry about his brother being shot that he wants to seek vengeance. Thankfully, the revenge he wants to get is telling the police. We all know that it might not a good idea, because it may come back on them negatively through retaliation, unfortunately. After a long talk with their parents, it was decided that he would go to the police.

After all of their hard work, everything is completed and the playground equipment has been installed. “ Arturo felt a rush of emotion as he thought of the dump that had been there before, and the fact that his class had changed it into a park. The change hadn’t exactly been made with a magic wand. The process had been much harder and longer than a wave of a wand, but there was much more satisfaction this way.” (181)

At the dedication ceremony, multiple people remark how amazing their feat was and how fantastic they are to have accomplished something so incredible. “Mr. Moreno talked about how you can do great things if you believe in yourself… Miss Fenwick said that accomplishing things helps build self-confidence, and self-confidence helps you accomplish things… Happy are those who dare to dream big dreams and are willing to work hard to make them come true.” (183)

Arturo also says, “Now we know that we can do almost anything if we try hard enough and work with other people.” (184)

In the epilogue, we learned that this novel is inspired by true events. It’s inspiring to know that this actually happened; what an incredible group of students to do something so monumental and so meaningful! These California based students wanted to improve their community, with the help of their teacher, and their dream was able to come true

At the very end of the text, it is referenced that the book is a Milkweed Edition. “Milkweed Editions publishes with the intention of making a humane impact on society, and the belief that literature is a transformative art uniquely able to convey the essential experiences of the human heart and spirit. To that end, Milkweed publishes distinctive voices of literary merit and handsomely designed, visually dynamic books, exploring the ethical cultural and esthetic issues that free societies need continually to address.”

Beautiful. I love how inspirational this book made me feel about our youth and the impact that young children can have on the world. If you’re looking for a great read that will restore your faith in humanity, give it a try!

4/5 stars, for the win!

Be sure to check it out at my Bookshop or on Amazon.