Ghetto Brother

May 11, 2015
This graphic novel debut for Voloj and Aherling is essentially a fictionalized biography of Benjamin “Benjy” Melendez, founder of the Ghetto Brothers gang (one of many Bronx gangs in the 1960s). Melendez led his gang to a nonviolent resolution to the conflict arising from the death of another gang member named Black Benjie in 1971. Black Benjie was killed while acting as a mediator between rival gangs, and this volume describes the events leading up to his death. The authors follow Melendez’s life from his move to the Bronx as a child to the present day. The writing is matter-of-fact and informative, but the narrative is poorly structured—some scenes are repetitive while others skip too far ahead, obliterating any tension. Additionally, despite the clear passion of the creative team, the art and writing are not harmonious, with too many things crowded into panels, leaving no room for captions. Yet the importance of this fascinating piece of history comes through, despite the flawed execution.

June 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-A graphic novel that aims to condense Benjy Melendez's experiences growing up in the South Bronx as the son of island-born Puerto Ricans in a very hostile New York City. It discusses Benjy's involvement in gang activities, the creation of the Ghetto Brothers gang, his auspicious role in brokering peace among gangs in the Bronx, and how he was part of a short period of peace that fomented the creation of Hip Hop and its culture. During this journey of shifting his gang into a group that worked against police injustice and for tenants' rights and bilingual education, he also discovers the complexity of his own ethnic and religious identity. The book truly summarizes a complicated story of a young boy "coming of age" politically, socially, and personally during a very important period of black and Puerto Rican community building and political activism in New York City. The text is accessible and not afraid to show the complexity of Benjy's struggles and the bleakness of life in the South Bronx during that period. In that sense, the illustrations are rough but consistent, suiting the grittiness of the neighborhood and of Benjy's own experiences well. VERDICT A coming-of-age story that will expand graphic novel collections with its incorporation of the historical oppression, community empowerment, and identities of marginalized communities in 1970s New York City.-Sujei Lugo, Boston Public Library, MA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2015
As the 1960s became the 1970s, the Bronx was represented to the rest of the world as a hellhole plagued by violent youth gangs. The Puerto Rican Ghetto Brothers, under president Benjy Melendez, started to change that. Inspired by an ambassador from the Black Panthers, Melendez determined to make peace among the gangs. The Ghetto Brother he sent to mediate one dispute got killed, however. Nixing retaliation, Melendez instead called a meeting of gang presidents to make a truce and turn gangs from internecine battle to community service. Many younger members got involved in the hip-hop movement. Using Melendez as narrator-protagonist, Voloj places the seminal events of November and December 1971 in the contexts of postWWII Puerto Rican immigration and difficult assimilation to New York, and of Melendez's personal development as he learned of and adopted his Jewish heritage. Ahlering bases her artwork partly on news and documentary photography, although she doesn't incorporate or copy photos but draws on them for detail, composition, and tonal variety in her black-and-white pen and brush drawings that tip the hat to Ben Shahn and Kathe Kollwitz. A fine documentary graphic novel of cultural and personal change for the better.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)