Crutches Book

Set in New Jersey in 1957, Vivian, an alcoholic mother, moves her two sons, Robin and Little Von, from the comfort of her mother and father's middle class home on the hill, to the only place she can afford on her own; the Projects. Determined to make a home for her boys and to be the mother they need, she is convinced that she cannot find her sobriety and dignity while living and depending on her aging parents Jessie Rose and Elderiah.

Despite moving from one predominately-black area to another one, Robin, 15, and Little Von, 6, immediately discover on their arrival in the brick apartment complex, that they know nothing about living in projects, where much of life is a fight for survival. Nothing in their comfortable home on the hill has prepared them for the struggle they must endure, especially when Vivian relapses and disappears for days at a time, leaving them to learn the hard lessons of adolescence, childhood and life in the tough Frederick Douglass Projects.