Babylon Boyz

Dante, Pook, and Wyatt, 8th-graders in a rundown West Oakland, California school plagued by guns, gangs, drugs and violence as well as inept or indifferent teachers, don't have many choices in life. Dante, 13, was born to a crack-addicted mother and needs an expensive heart operation if he hopes to reach 30. Pook is newly 14 and, though handsome and muscular, with a dream of becoming a doctor, is an outcast because he’s gay. Wyatt, 13, is enormously fat, though his biggest handicap is being smart in a stupid place. Dante’s father, though loving, is an engineer on a tugboat and often absent…