Pitch Black

January 15, 2009
"Just cause you can't see, don't mean ain't nothing there" could be as true for this graphic novel as it is for Horton's philosophy. Many lives of rejection, despair, survival, and hope live underground beneath the drawings just as Horton lived underground in New York subway tunnels. Landowne was admiring some graffiti and waiting for the Seventh Avenue line when Horton opened a conversation. When the train came, they rode up and downtown a few times, telling stories and swapping art. Horton lived "six stories below the city" and took Landowne down for a tour. This spare but rich gray-and-black graphic novel about his life draws on both of their words and art. Growing up rejected by parents and then foster care, Horton ended up on the streets and then in the hell of the city's shelters. Eventually, he escaped into the subway tunnels and found mentors and a life where "anything you need can be found in the garbage," but where rats, safety, and staying dry are daily concerns. We want to know more about Horton, but like peering down a dark tunnel, we only catch glimpses. How did he learn to read and draw? What art did he first show Landowne? Landowne wrote previously about street children in "Sélavi, That Is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope". For academic and high school libraries, and teen as well as adult collections in public libraries.M.C.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-After meeting on a subway platform in New York City, Landowne and Horton share a conversation about art and life while riding uptown and downtown. Youme listens carefully as Anthony tells his story of living on the streets after being abandoned by his adoptive family. At first he stayed at a homeless shelter where he witnessed, "things no kid should ever see." He discovered a city below the city when one day the police chased him into a subway tunnel. In these dark passageways, Anthony built a makeshift home and found a canvas for his artwork. After showing Youme his life six stories below the city, the two artists begin a collaboration that ends in this beautiful, gritty biography. Both Youme and Anthony contributed text and art to the book-their black and gray watercolors are tender and raw, their words spare and poetic. This book's unflinching look at homelessness and the ability to find hope and inspiration in the dark will appeal greatly to teens."Lauren Anduri, Brooklyn Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.