Other editions of book Monkey Island

Clay Garrity is 11 years old, and he has never felt so alone in life. Weeks before, his father lost his job and left Clay and his mother, who was pregnant, to fend for themselves. Soon after, they moved into a welfare hotel. They didn’t have much, but they did have each other. Now his mother is gone too. And all Clay has to live on is the $28.75 she left under a box of doughnuts. On the sixth day, running out of food and afraid that the welfare people will come and take him away, Clay leaves the apartment and begins to wander the streets of New York City. Clay knows he can’t continue to live this way for long. Already his memories of school and the people he cares about are fading. If he leaves the streets he may never see his mother again. But if he stays he may not see tomorrow.

Eleven-year-old Clay must find a home on the streets of New York City in this award-winning, heartbreakingly honest novel. He was eleven years old, and he had never felt so alone in his life. Clay Garrity lived a normal life until his father lost his job and abandoned the family. Now his pregnant mother has deserted him too, leaving Clay alone in a welfare hotel with a jar of peanut butter and half a loaf of bread. Fearing being placed in foster care, Clay runs away. Alone in the city, Clay wanders down streets with boarded-up buildings and through dark alleys, until he comes to a small triangular park that looks like an island in a stream. In the light of a street lamp, he sees cardboard boxes, blankets, bundles—and people. Some are lying on benches, others inside boxes. Two of the men, Calvin and Buddy, offer to share their shelter, and Clay is grateful to have a place to stay during the bitter November cold. Before long, Calvin, Buddy, and Clay form a family amid the threatening dangers and despair of the streets. Clay knows that leaving the streets and going into foster care means that he may never see his parents again. But if he stays, he may not survive at all. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, this acclaimed novel offers an intensely moving and candid look at the all-too-real lives of homeless teens.

Eleven-year-old Clay Garrity is on his own. His father lost his job and left the family. Now Clay's mother is gone from their welfare hotel.Clay is homeless and out on the streets of New York. In the park he meets two homeless men. Buddy and Calvin become Clay's new family during those harsh winter weeks. But the streets are filled with danger and despair.If Clay leaves the streets he may never find his parents again. But if he stays on the streets he may not survive at all.