STREETHEARTS Jim Christy. Toronto, Simon & Pierre, c1981. 197pp, cloth, $14.95. ISBN 0-88924-110-4. Grades 12 and up. Reviewed by Joan McGrath. Volume 12 Number 2 1984 March Gene Castellano, who tells his own story, is a child of the mean streets, those of grubby South Philadelphia of the early 1950s, but don't think that that makes him a pitiable waif. He loves it. He loves the tough guys and racketeers, the sharp, violent action, the sights, sounds, and even smells that would be a mite too strong for most of us. And even at his early age, he's starting to love women (not girls: these are the B girls and strippers he meets as a downtown shoe-shine boy, and they mean, unequivocally, Business). This story of Gene's unlikely boyhood ends on a down beat when he and his family are uprooted from his be loved, squalid city, and transported to a nice, wholesome green suburb. We leave him planning his escape. Some of Gene's, shall we say, learning situations and activities, are such that this is a book best reserved for mature readers who come equipped with an earthy sense of humour. Joan McGrath, Toronto Board of Education, Toronto, ON.