Lewis Aptekar

The Street Children of Cali by Lewis Aptekar. is a book from the 1980s that discusses the results of a psychological/anthropological study on Columbian boys that had left their familial homes for various reasons. The writing is at times a bit dry, but the information is interesting, especially when you contrast the findings against medieval fantasy novels that depict street children. The study addresses many of the troubles of puberty, not the least for these children being the loss of their show more cuteness. After all, adults can't say no or get mad at cute kids for long, but things that work for little kids won't work once a scruffy mustache appears.

The book has a lot of psychological jargon, but it's an interesting look at how children work when there isn't a lot of adult guidance. No Lord of the Flies here, although this isn't a nice world either. Finally, Aptekar looks at the challenge to traditional families and values these children raise. If adult discipline gets annoying, there's always the street. He contrasts the Columbian situation, to the very different situation of homeless teens in the U.S. It's an interesting study, and I would like to see more like this. I'm also going to go online to see if the situation has changed much in the last twenty years. show less