Six Out Seven

by Jess Mowry

Book Overview

The thirteen-year-old Corbitt Wainwright's adolescence is abruptly cut short when his father is imprisoned for attacking a white man.??Tragically, dreams of success through good grades and hard work... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374220832
• ISBN13: 9780374220839
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 501 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Tha truth about tha game

'Six Out Seven' is like two books. One book is tha story of Corbitt Wainwright who is a 13 year old boy who lives in Mississippi and tha other story is about Lactameon who is also 13 but lives in West Oakland California. Corbitt is tall and slim and black as space and Lactameon is so fat that he spills out of his clothes but both of these boys have to fight in that same ways to survive and come up. Both of these boys also learn that a lot of tha things that black kidz think are 'cool' are really self destructive things that tha white world teaches or encourages black kids to do like selling and doing drugs and making gang war against each other. These two boys meet in Oakland when Corbitt has to run away. This book is a lot like an adventure story for black kids and is also very deep. I like tha way Jess Mowry describes all of tha characters so that you can see them and they remind you of real people you know. Tha book goes very deep into tha real causes of black on black violence and this is why I think that some people who do book reviews don't like it. Corbitt calls all the killing and violence 'a great big video game that we were taught how to play' and I think he was right. After Corbitt comes to Oakland he discovers that he even has to play tha game if he wants to stay alive. This is what so many people don't know about these things and living in tha hood. Sometimes kids don't have any choice about playing tha game except to die if they don't. This book is filled with many interesting and on tha real characters like Corbitt's homies in Mississippi who are Lamar who is a very muscular boy and Toby who is white and who gets beat up by other white boys for being Corbitt's friend. And there is Sherry Cooper who is a beautiful black girl. Lactameon's homies in Oakland are a boy named Beamer who was a crack baby and is a little bit retarded but who is smart anyway and a half white boy named Ethan who only has one eye. Then there is Toni who is a cool girl but she also has to play tha game to live. There is also a 14 year old crack dealer named Hobbes and his bodyguard Sebastain. Tha settings and lives of these kidz are all on tha real but maybe not to somebody who never lived in places like this or who had to play 'tha game' to stay alive. There is also some 'black magic' and mystery in this story. And a ghost of a boy who was killed by tha KKK long ago who haunts Corbitt no matter where he goes. I think tha main message of this book is that only black kidz ourselves can stop all tha drugs and violence and that we need to check ourselves and stop playing tha game to do this.

Six Out Seven is a must read for everyone(especially teens)

If you haven't ever read a Jess Mowry book they are the best. This book goes from Mississippi to Oakland and is very detailed. It is the best writing I have ever read. You get the truth about inner-city life and no stereotypes. The friendships are so great in the book. Pick up a copy!

INTENSE, POWERFUL AND TRULY MAGICAL.

Jess Mowry is truly a gifted writer. This story reflects the lives of young children who live a life which while so close to our own is yet so far apart.Corbitt is one such "child" who as people keep telling him has all seven on what it is to be a "true african", and yet Corbitt only begins to realise what it is to be "black" when he arrives in Oakland. Corbitt is a holder of magic and power, his time in Oakland is a mission but he doesn't know it. Mowry's style of writing takes you deep into the heart of this world, and again he surprises you as the story prompts you to discover the true nature of the real story which lies between the lines and overlaps so imaginatively and yet so subtley, that the result is truly magical.

This is one of my favorite books! It's a beautiful story!

Jess Mowry has a way with words that is simply beautiful. His characters are so easy to love and laugh with and cry with. The thing I like about his characters is that they have so much depth, soul, and spirit. Reading this book takes you there - not just the streets and the hopelessness- but inside to the heart and the hope of the characters. I really love this book! I have bought four copies, loaned them out, and they continue to be passed on. Now, with my last copy, I make sure I get it back immediately so that I have something truly exceptional to read.

Jess Mowry's most powerful novel yet!

Mowry has created a masterpiece of modern literature capturing the essence and harsh realities of strret life in its true form. Even better than Way Past Cool, this novel is a landmark in contemprary black fiction.