The Paul Street Boys

First, I need to thank Brittany (my assistant) for finding this book.  It is no longer published, so she found a copy through the NYU consortium group (even the NYPL didn’t have this book!).  The Paul Street Boys by Ferenc Molnar is a book set in Hungary that was written for youth about youth.  The book details the battle of two groups for dominance in the neighborhood defending their territory (a precursor to the Crips and the Bloods – sort of!).  The redshirts come and steal the flag from the Paul Street Boys’ playground, a fort of sorts.  The Paul Street Boys are portrayed as the weaker and younger local boys against the bigger and tougher redshirts, led by two brawny guys.  The Paul Street Boys have the underdog boys, one of which turns traitor on the group and one who is undersized (Nemecsek) yet comes to save the group by showing his loyalty and bravery to challenge the redshirts.  As a reader, I got caught up in the bullying by the redshirts and turned my hope for the underdog Paul Street Boys.  The climax of the book happens in the final battle for pride and winning the home “castle” of the Paul Street Boys.  It is somewhat predictable that of course the Paul Street Boys do come back and win the battle, thank goodness for Nemecsek who comes out of his bed with an illness to save them at the last and final battle (a move of self-sacrifice to save his friends while he was very, very ill).  The very strange part of the story is after the battle when sick child Nemecsek’s condition gets really bad, to the point he actually dies!   Clearly there is a great deal of the author drawing from what is happening in Europe while he was scribing this book (1906) where nationalism was on the rise prior to World War I.   I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book but was very “jarred” by the illness of Nemecsek  (I never thought that the hero would die in the end – tough on the young reader, for sure).  Loved the battle, the loyalty, the traitor within the group, and how friendships bond during challenge.  Would be a great read for kids, but prep them for the death scene and all the underlying secondary story of the “Barabbas” character (from the Bible).  Another book that has some “deeper levels” that kids probably won’t get.  I enjoyed this fast paced, quick read while sitting at the pool at my PA house today!  Yes, three hours and done!  Nice.


Below is a picture of The Paul Street Boys statues located in Budapest (via http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9791774):