All Gods Children by Rene Denfeld

This is a book that covers a part of society that most people dont know exists. Street families. Not necessarily homeless people, people who choose to live on the streets due to "abusive relationships in the home" or various other reasons. Most say they were raped or abused by parents, kicked out by their parents, or simply just left a difficult situation.
This book follows street families in Portland, Oregon. The main family the book follows is a group called simply, "The Family". It consisted of several members who are usually between the ages of early teens, 13 or 14, to older members who can range all the way up to 26.
Rene delves into these kids minds and follows their stories that seem innocent during the day, but by night, these kids are very, very dangerous. There are several instances where someone in the street family offended someone else, and the entire culture turned against them. The punishment can vary from a simple "taxing" (taking objects valuable to the taxee), to a beating to even death.
The last part of the book covers the story of a mentally disable young woman who befriended these kids. She thought it was all innocent fun, but then she soon found out that they can turn on loved ones as easily as a winter storm.
This last case is heartwrenching and horribly sad. This was the only book I have ever read that actually had me waking up at night. It was mindboggling and just didn't seem like this kind of culture could exist right under our noses.
If you want to see into the darker side of our society, then read this book. Good luck finding anything online that explains any of it though. I haven't found anything. Some pictures, but nothing about the culture itself.
Next book review: A wonderful book by John Walsh called "No Mercy".