6 Books That Take Place in Pre-Gentrified NYC

Burn Baby Burn, by Meg Medina
1977 was a year of turmoil and danger in New York City. The crime rate was climbing, the economy was in the tank, arson, blackouts, and rioting were the order of the day, and a serial killer calling himself Son of Sam was targeting young couples in love. As Medina’s narrator, high school senior Nora Lopez, puts it, “We’re burning. We’re broke. We’re laid off. We’re ripping each other off or being murdered or pulling the trigger.” But as Nora comes to realize, the most dangerous person in her life is actually her younger brother, Hector, whose violence toward Nora and her mother grows daily. Shame and fear prevent Nora from telling anyone about her volatile home situation, even best friend, Kathleen, and new boyfriend, Pablo. She believes the only way out is to save enough money from her job at the deli to break free from her family and start anew.

Brown Girl, Brownstones, by Paule Marshall
A coming-of-age roman à clef about Selina, a black girl whose parents and sister emigrated from Barbados in 1939 to live in Brooklyn. Selina’s mother works herself to the bone as a cleaning woman and fantasizes about affording a brownstone—to her, the ultimate symbol of wealth and achievement—while Selina’s father spends his time on selfish pursuits. As Selina grows up, her mother’s desperation for success serves only to push both her children away. A keen and quiet observer, Selina must decide which portions of the family’s culture and ideals she wishes to emulate in her adult life.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt
June Elbus is 14 in 1987, the year her beloved uncle Finn, a kindhearted painter living in NYC, dies of AIDS. At the time, the little-understood illness was highly stigmatized, and Finn’s death causes a rift in June’s family; her parents blame his heretofore secret boyfriend, Toby, and June no longer connects with her changeable older sister. But June and Toby unexpectedly begin to lean on one another during their time of mutual grief, building a friendship that helps assuage each other’s loneliness.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
In 1979, 12-year-old Miranda is a so-called “latch-key kid” to a loving, whip-smart single mother, and she knows the rules for safety in New York City. However, none of those rules seem to apply to the laughing man, a peculiar homeless person who hangs out near Miranda’s apartment and is always practicing odd kicks. Worse, Miranda has had a confusing falling out with her best friend, Sal, who used to walk home from school with her. Now, she’s receiving mysterious letters from a stranger who desperately needs her help—and who seems to be watching her. Does her favorite book about time travel, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, hold the answers to all her questions? “None of it makes sense,” Miranda discovers. “But all of it is true.” A brilliant, heartfelt read that deservedly won the Newbery Medal in 2010.

The World Outside, by Eva Wiseman
Chanie lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, with her Lubavitcher Hasidic family. Her parents are proud of their lineage, and 17-year-old Chanie is expected to marry straight out of high school. She has never known any other way of life, but with the eye-opening support of her new friend David, she imagines attending Juilliard and performing opera music, a path forbidden to her. The year is 1991 and racial tension between the Orthodox Jews and their black neighbors is about to explode into a real-life three-day riot after a car crash leaves both communities in tatters. Chanie finds herself torn between following her dreams and remaining true to her family’s expectations.

The Pigman and Me: a Memoir, by Paul Zindel
This autobiography chronicles a year in the life of the late, great, award-winning author Zindel when he was a teen. In the 1940s, he, his sister, and his scattered, suicide-threatening mother (who tended to pick up and move whenever the rent was due) relocate from New Jersey to Travis, Staten Island, where they live in a house with another single mom and her twin boys, Joey and Nicky. Their neighbors are mainly Polish, which makes Irish-German Paul fear he’ll be ripe for bullying at school. Luckily, regular visits from Nonno Frankie (the twins’ grandfather) help Paul stay sane and deal with his life. Wisecracking, jovial Nonno, affectionately dubbed “the pigman” by Paul, looks like “a Sicilian Santa Claus” and becomes a mentor and surrogate father to Paul, not to mention forming the basis of his extraordinary writing career.