Street of Tall People by Alan Gibbons
Published by Five Leaves Publishing
This edition of Alan Gibbons’ 1995 book is timely. A new generation of potential readers is now ready to be introduced to Gibbons’ hard-hitting, realistic story-telling. The relatively compact tale, told in brisk but effective prose and divided into short-ish chapters, should appeal to KS3.
It is 1936 and the scene is set in London’s East End. Two 12-year-olds, Jimmy Priest and Benny Silver, meet in the boxing ring; they would like to become friends. Their story takes place in the lead up to the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley threatened to parade his fascist supporters through this area of London, home to many families, including the eponymous ‘Tall People’, the Jews.
These are Benny’s people. Jimmy is a Gentile a yok, a non- Jew. Struggling to become friends, the boys become caught in the crossfire of opposing ideologies. Their friendship is constantly tested by the dangerous times in which they live. Through a supporting cast of characters, Gibbons offers other points of view: Yaro, Benny’s slightly older friend, thinks all Gentiles are Jew-baiters and Eddie Searle, who’s dating Jimmy’s widowed mum, is a paid-up Blackshirt.
However The Street of Tall People is no mere history lesson. Jimmy and Benny are well-rounded characters your students will relate to. Jimmy’s efforts to come to terms with his father’s death, his mother’s perceived ‘infidelity’ and his own low self-esteem are for all time. Recognisable too are grammar-school scholar Benny’s boyhood dreams for a future far away from the limited horizons of the East End.
The book ends with a toast – lechayim, to life. Read it, re-read it. It’s worth it!