"Onion John" by Joseph Krumgold. Discuss the relevance or irrelevance of the book's "message" for teenagers growing up today.

Homeless Heroes Authors like to write tidy stories about growing up. Since everyone's growing up is different, there probably are very few stories that everyone can relate to. "Onion John" is a story about one set of problems a boy encounters as he is growing up. Children want to have someone other than their parents to look up to. "Onion John" is a simple version of how the author tries to show a child looking …

…for the reader to ignore. In real life if a child spent as much time alone, unsupervised, with a homeless person as Andy is spending with Onion John, the kid would be likely to either end up raped or stuffed in a trashcan. The reader has to keep ignoring these sorts of realities like don't Andy's parents care if he might get lice or worse or end up on a side of a milk carton?