Horatio Jr. Alger 
Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks 

‘Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks’ is a classic rags-to-riches tale about a typical lower Manhattan boy, who smokes, gambles, and speaks ungrammatically. Yet there is something more – Dick is honest and hardworking and dreams about a steady job, a decent place to sleep, and respectability. It is an exciting teenage novel about adventure, romance, and coming of age, concluding in a metamorphosis from a dirty street boy to a handsome, self-respecting gentleman.