Where do you find the strength to get out of a bad neighborhood, a bad family, and a bad life, without losing your sense of humor? Well, if you’re Mick, a skinny Irish kid with an awakening conscience, you get “by with a little help from your friends,” but a lot of it has to come from within yourself. Follow Mick’s trials, in the three named books above, as he tries to make a clean break from his bigoted brother, his alcoholic parents and his narrow-minded neighborhood. But breaks like those are never clean, and Mick fights hard to resist the pull of his violent up-bringing to find a place where he can be himself. Don’t be scared off by the serious themes, because there’s a lot of laughs in between the fist fights and racial tension– just like life. These books are so real it’s scary.