Block Boy: Memories of Another Time and Place

About the Book

Block Boy: Memories of Another Time and Place is a memoir told in verse. It captures a critical time in the life of the author growing up in an Italian-American neighborhood populated by old world immigrants, their adult children, and the children of the children of immigrants.

It’s the 1950’s. Disneyland’s being built somewhere, but Richie doesn’t care. The block’s his Disneyland. He and his extended family live on East 108th street between Second and Third Avenue in East Harlem, Manhattan. His dad’s a house painter, his mom, once a seamstress, devotes herself to raising three boys and keeping them out of trouble. The block is Richie’s world. He roams the street and rooftops too in search of fun and a risk or two. He’s a block boy. The block is his playing field; the block is his safe haven. Stoopball’s his game; stickball, too. For kids on the street, life revolves around little rubber balls—spaldeens—and the games they play. Yet Richie carries a burden deep within. On the block, he’s the stoopball king, but inside he feels like an eagle with broken wings. He struggles in school. He can’t read. Then one day in July the block is pulled out from under his feet. His family’s moving to Long Island. They have no choice. The City of New York will be tearing down the block to build a school. Richie’s too young to appreciate the irony, but what will become of him without the block?

About the Author

Richard T. Vacca was born in East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York. His street was one of many streets in East Harlem, then one of the largest Italian-American communities in New York. Yet it was more than a street. It was "the block" -- the home of family, friends, and fun. Today, he is a Professor Emeritus from Kent State University, an author of several popular college textbooks on the teaching of reading, and a past-president of the International Reading Association, one of the largest professional education associations in the world. He now lives in Vero Beach, Florida where he writes poetry and fiction, plays golf, and takes occasional walks on the beach with his wife, Jo Anne, and their toy poodles Tiger Lily and Gigi Marie. This is his first poetry collection.