Adolescents born into poverty must learn to deal with adversity from an early age.

Avoiding trouble is not just a matter of choices. For minority adolescents who live in low-income ghettoes, difficulties often seem inevitable. Eddie and other adolescents must face the fact that the American Dream may be elusive. Following the rules, as Eddie learns, may not be enough. "I felt like a deflated inner tube hanging in a garage, black from depression, because I had done what people and the Bible told me to do: work. But that advice had failed me... . The working life was a scam. I could stencil every curb in Fresno from pagan Monday to holy Sunday.... But no matter how hard I tried to live a straight life, I could still mess up."

The difficulties of living with poverty affect everyone in the barrio. Because the street is the...