Ragged Dick or Street Life in New York/ Horatio Alger

Ragged Dick or Street Life in New York By Horatio Alger. rags-to-riches stories, growing up, historical accounts of New York. 198 pages

The first thing I want to get out of the way is that while reading this book, I already came up with just about every possible pun one could make with the title Ragged Dick. Yes, it sounds like a slang-name for the most painful STD ever. Yes, people will look at you differently when you walk the streets with your Ragged Dick in hand. They are all hilarious, and as much as I'd like to spend this whole blog entry making jokes about the book's title, I have a book to tell you about, so get over it.

I wasn't familiar with Alger's work before reading this story, but apparently he has written many similar stories about young boys who come from nothing working their way into respectable society. We've all heard the story before and since some say Alger is the first to tell the rags-to-riches story, then I won't hold it too much against him that the plot doesn't stray to far from the literary cliches that we're used to. I would definitely recommend this book to parents who want to give their teenagers something to read that is both entertaining and informative. Alger's style of writing manages to be both gripping and frank.

Dick, the protagonist of the story is extremely likable, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that you'll be rooting for him on his journey of upward mobility. My only problem with the story is that it was almost TOO optimistic. Everything seemed to work out perfectly for ole' Dick, and while I understand that this is partially due to the book being written in a much more simple time, I would have liked a little more conflict for Dick, a perfectly capable character, to overcome. Definitely worth a read, and at 198 pages, it's not gonna take up much of your time. Kirkwood's got the only two copies of the book in the whole consortium's circulation, so make sure to get your hands on Ragged Dick before someone else does (Okay...I had to do one...sorry).