$16.95 U.S.

Neri • DuBurke
G. Neri is an award-winning writer,
filmmaker, and new media producer from
Los Angeles, where he also worked with
inner-city youth. He is the recipient of
the International Reading Association
E leven-year-old Roger is trying to make
Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet
Award and his debut book, Lee & Low’s sense of his classmate Robert “Yummy”
Chess Rumble, was recognized as an Sandifer’s death, but first he has to make
ALA Notable Children’s Book. Neri now sense of Yummy’s life. Yummy could be as
lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with his tough as a pit bull sometimes. Other times
wife and their daughter. You can find him he was as sweet as the sugary treats he
online at gneri.com. loved to eat. Was Yummy some sort of
monster, or just another kid?
As Roger searches for the truth, he finds
Randy DuBurke’s books for young
more and more questions. How did Yummy
readers include Lee & Low’s Catching the
Moon, a Bank Street College Best Children’s end up in so much trouble? Did he really kill
Book of the Year, and the graphic biography someone? And why do all the answers seem
Malcolm X. His work has also appeared in DC to lead back to a gang—the same gang
and Marvel comics, The New York Times, and Roger’s older brother belongs to?
Mad magazine. A native of Brooklyn, New Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
York, DuBurke now lives in Switzerland with is a compelling dramatization based on
his wife and their two sons. His Web site events that occurred in Chicago in 1994.
is randyduburke.com.
This gritty exploration of youth gang life
will force readers to question their own
understandings of good and bad, right
and wrong.
Jacket art © 2010 by Randy DuBurke

Lee & Low Books

LEE & LOW BOOKS Inc.
95 Madison Avenue
ISBN 978-1-58430-267-4

New York, NY 10016

leeandlow.com

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

by G. Neri • illustrated by Randy DuBurke
Yummy_Int:Layout 1 6/10/10 4:45 PM Page 1

by G. Neri
illustrated by
Randy DuBurke

Lee & Low Books Inc

New York
Yummy_Int:Layout 1 6/10/10 4:45 PM Page 2

To J.F., for pulling me from the slush pile with this one and seeing it all the way through.
And of course, for Maggie and Zola, who keep me sane.—G.N.

To my two wonderful sons, Sakai and Matthias, and my equally wonderful and lovely wife,
Olivia. Special thanks to Christy Hale and Laura Reder—R.D.

Text copyright © 2010 by G. Neri

Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Randy DuBurke
All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced,
transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the publisher.
LEE & LOW BOOKS Inc., 95 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
leeandlow.com
Manufactured in the United States of America by Worzalla Publishers, June 2010
Book design by Christy Hale
Book production by The Kids at Our House
The text is set in Opti Kartoon and Evil Genius
The illustrations are rendered in ink
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Neri, Greg.
Yummy : the last days of a Southside Shorty / by G. Neri ; illustrated by Randy DuBurke. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: “A graphic novel based on the true story of Robert ‘Yummy’ Sandifer, an eleven-year-old
African American gang member from Chicago who shot a young girl and was then shot by his own
gang members”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-58430-267-4 (pbk.)
1. Sandifer, Robert—Comic books, strips, etc. 2. African American youth—Illinois—Chicago—
Biography—Comic books, strips, etc. 3. African American youth—Illinois—Chicago—Social conditions—
Comic books, strips, etc. 4. Gang members—Illinois—Chicago—Biography—Comic books, strips, etc.
5. Gangs—Illinois—Chicago—Comic books, strips, etc. 6. Violence—Illinois—Chicago—Comic books,
strips, etc. 7. Chicago (Ill.)—Social conditions—Comic books, strips, etc. 8. Chicago (Ill.)—Biography—
Comic books, strips, etc. 9. Graphic novels. I. DuBurke, Randy. II. Title.
F548.9.N4N47 2010
305.896’073077311092—dc22
[B] 2006017771
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R obert “Yummy” Sandifer was a real person. He was born in 1983 and
lived in the Roseland area of Chicago. At just eleven years old, Yummy
became a poster child for youth gang violence in America after a series
of tragic events led to his appearance on the cover of TIME magazine in
September 1994. The essence of Yummy’s story presented in this book
has been re-created based on public records, media reports, and personal
accounts. A certain amount of fictionalization was necessary to fill in
gaps, condense events, and represent what Yummy might have been
feeling. Roger, the narrator of this story, was invented to guide us, a
means of trying to make sense of the madness that hit Roseland in the
summer of 1994. I invite you, like Roger, to sort through all the opinions
that poured in from the community, media, and politicians, and discover
your own truth about Yummy.
—G.N.
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CHICAGO, my hometown.

We call it Chi-town.

where Bulls rule the city . . .

And Al Capone was a real gangster

who lived and died here.

4
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my grandma says that Just a few blocks away from

my house Muddy Waters invented Chicago Blues.

It’s also the place where Oprah

became one of the richest and
most famous people on TV.

Chi-town has the tallest

building in America.

There’s also a big school

south of my neighborhood.
And the busiest airport too. They say some great
people went there. They
even won some big prizes.

But in my neighborhood,
life ain’t so sweet.

5
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I live on Normal Avenue.

But I guess “normal”

is different to
different folks.

In this neighborhood, if you go out at

night, you might get yourself shot.

Sometimes it feels
like a war movie.

But this ain’t no movie.

This is my neighborhood—
Roseland—home sweet home.

And what I’m gonna tell you happened for real.

6
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I knew this kid His real name was

named Yummy. . . .
Robert, but the kids
in the neighborhood
called him Yummy
on account of he
liked cookies and
Sweets so much.

He was my age, 11 years

old. He was just a little
guy, what we call a
shorty, 4 feet tall and
maybe 60 pounds heavy.

But sometimes
he sure didn’t
act like it.
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Yummy belonged to a gang called the Black Disciples. and anyone who was
a rival on one of their streets, was gonna hear from the Black Disciples.

They ran the neighborhood.

Even kids just playin’

in the streets,

minding their own business, could get caught up in gang business.

8
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For a shorty like yummy, blastin’ a Disciples’ enemy would

make him look real good to the higher ups in his gang.

IF YOU WANNA
ADVANCE, YOU GONNA HAVE
TO PROVE YOURSELF.

so that’s what yummy tried to do. . . .

THEY GONNA MAKE

ME REGENT FOR THIS!

ANG!
B
BANG!
BA NG!
9