Danny Santiago's Famous City When I was little I remember driving across the country, going to Florida, and passing neighborhoods that were anything but mine. They had old houses that looked like they were going to collapse at any moment, really shabby looking. In Colorado, my house was nice and always tidy. I sat in the car wondering what kind of people lived in those run-down places and what they were like. The answers came to me years later, when I read the book Famous All Over Town, by Danny Santiago. The main character, Chato, is a young Hispanic boy who lives in a neighborhood like the ones I saw as a child. After reading the book, although I never thought I had anything in common with people who lived like this, I learned that Chato and I have similarities, but we have more differences. There aren't many similarities between me and Chato, but there is one, and it's a big one. We both have families who love us. Lena, Chato's sister, takes care of him after he comes home from the hospital. Then he starts thinking about his family and how happy he is to be home. “Lena loved me, my mother loved me, and my father loved me, apparently” (45). Chato's whole family loves him and he loves being with them. In my house you will find the same kind of environment and I can identify with some of Chato's family life. However, Chato's family is not always kind to him. His family has many problems, such as everyone keeping secrets from each other and everyone lying to each other. For example, Chato's father is having an affair and everyone knows about it, but everyone keeps it hidden from Chato. When he finds out he is very angry at himself and the things he is stupid for not knowing, while everyone else knows. “She knew it, they knew it, the whole damn town knew it, except only me, stupid, stupid” (l46). In my family, however, everyone is honest and you would never see anyone hiding something so important from others. Another example of how Chato's family is different is shown when Chato has a stomach ache and his father says he is faking it. She tells him, “Shut up, you crybaby coward” (26). His father is not very kind to him because he is ill.