Capricious, mendacious, and notably hostile, Minnow dominates a group of boys and girls of mixed ages and backgrounds living in a heterogeneous New York neighborhood [in The Seventeenth-Street Gang]…. The resilient Minnow is an enfant terrible, but she is more nasty than vicious, and she is utterly believable. The shifting patterns of power plays within the gang are fascinating, as are the stratagems that the children use to maintain their privacy against adults. (p. 50)