Issues. Abdul Jones is nine years old when his mother Precious dies. Parentless, he is sent first to a foster home and then to a Catholic orphanage. But the priests charged to care for him abuse his trust terribly. And Abdul, a victim, finds that he reacts in the most frightening way imaginable. Soon he is trapped in a dark cycle of sexual violence and betrayal. Yet through dance, in controlling his body, he discovers a way he might somehow break free and become himself. A harrowing and powerful novel set in New York, The Kid is a portrait of a boy forced to grow up in a cruel and callous world.