The Me Nobody Knows

Rating:
Summary: Scary yet truthful
Review: I am 15 years old and i know what alot of those people must have been going through. We just did this show and i had the luck to be cast in it. Even though some things they say are scary they are very honest. It is a wonderful book and the show is just as good. I think that once you become a teenager it is the perfect book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Scary yet truthful
Review: I am 15 years old and i know what alot of those people must have been going through. We just did this show at my High School (SCVTHS) and i had the luck to be cast in it. Even though some things they say are scary they are very honest. It is a wonderful book and the show is just as good. I think that once you become a teenager it is the perfect book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting, a harsh dose of reality
Review: I ran across this book after working in a youth home for boys for over six months. I was curious as to the situation of the children whose work was presented in the book, as the book was published in the sixties. As it turns out, the feelings, thoughts, and ideas presented by these young authors are not at all different from those of the young men with whom I work today in the 1990's.

I wanted to laugh, and I wanted to cry as I read the children's stories. Some of them were so full of imagination and hope, yet others showed young men and women who had to deal with murders, drugs, and other adult issues at such a young age. For children, life in the ghetto has not changed much from the sixties to the nineties.

Rating:
Summary: A Book for all eras
Review: Scared, alone, drug-addicted, pregnant--these are some of the many adjectives that might describe the writers of "The Me Nobody Knows". These are the stories of young adults, in and around the Bed-Sty area of New York. Stark and honest, many young readers will find a poem or story with which they can relate.

A play also exists by the same name, which played on Broadway many years ago and starred such celebs as Morgan Freeman and Irene Cara. Both are must read/views for teens!

Rating:
Summary: Back on Broadway
Review: The Me Nobody Knows is a haunting book full of real-life stories taken from the lives of children of the 60's in the inner-city areas of New York. The feeling behind the words, if not the words themselves, are pure poetry, talking about things like the war-zone like live which they lead. These stories tell of our past- and our present. It was made into a musical on Broadway in 1969- and will be coming back in May. I urge everyone to go see it- I know that I am.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Grady's feelings about The Me.
Review: When Steve Joseph asked me for some writings my students had done while I was teaching at The Youth House (now called Spofford on LAW & ORDER), located on Spofford Avenue in the Bronx, I gave him a brown envelope stuffed with things they had written, letters to me, a movie script, et al. I had taught at the Youth House when it was located on East 12th Street in downtown New York City and moved to Spofford when it opened. Some time later Steve returned my envelope and told me the book would be out soon. I left New York before the book was published, returning to my home in North Carolina, but he sent me a copy of it. Later I read of the opening of the show and I was then invited to attend the production. I did, and thought it was about the best piece of theater I'd seen, and that's praise from an actor who has been known to sneak out of shows at intermission. When I went backstage to visit the cast they were shocked to learn that there was a real Mr. Grady, as in the "Dear Mr. Grady" letters. They were beautifully read by Jose Fernandez, with whom I corresponded for a while after my visit. He also performed in the same role in the Showtime production which was videotaped for television in 1980. I later directed a production of the show, in addition to seeing several college productions. I sat watching the Showtime video of The Me the other night and could not move away from the television. The show is powerful, moving, and the music is entrancing. I was only going to watch a little bit of it, but I sat through the entire videotape of the Showtime production, a copy of which was sent to me by the Showtime president after it ran on Showtime. It is still a great show, and critics were lavish in their praise. I just reread the review by Clive Barnes which ran in the New York Times. I echo his feelings: "I loved it. I loved its understanding and compassion. . ." Thank you very much. Ed Grady

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Grady's feelings about The Me.
Review: When Steve Joseph asked me for some writings my students had done while I was teaching at The Youth House (now called Spofford on LAW & ORDER), located on Spofford Avenue in the Bronx, I gave him a brown envelope stuffed with things they had written, letters to me, a movie script, et al. I had taught at the Youth House when it was located on East 12th Street in downtown New York City and moved to Spofford when it opened. Some time later Steve returned my envelope and told me the book would be out soon. I left New York before the book was published, returning to my home in North Carolina, but he sent me a copy of it. Later I read of the opening of the show and I was then invited to attend the production. I did, and thought it was about the best piece of theater I'd seen, and that's praise from an actor who has been known to sneak out of shows at intermission. When I went backstage to visit the cast they were shocked to learn that there was a real Mr. Grady, as in the "Dear Mr. Grady" letters. They were beautifully read by Jose Fernandez, with whom I corresponded for a while after my visit. He also performed in the same role in the Showtime production which was videotaped for television in 1980. I later directed a production of the show, in addition to seeing several college productions. I sat watching the Showtime video of The Me the other night and could not move away from the television. The show is powerful, moving, and the music is entrancing. I was only going to watch a little bit of it, but I sat through the entire videotape of the Showtime production, a copy of which was sent to me by the Showtime president after it ran on Showtime. It is still a great show, and critics were lavish in their praise. I just reread the review by Clive Barnes which ran in the New York Times. I echo his feelings: "I loved it. I loved its understanding and compassion. . ." Thank you very much. Ed Grady