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books about trouble
Born Blue
by Han Nolan
Exactly how much stomping can one heart take before it shuts down forever? Is it possible for a spirit
to survive after years of abuse? And how do you define "survival" anyway? Award-winning author
Han Nolan asks these questions in this
powerful, troubling novel. Left to drown by her heroin-addict mother, Janie spends her childhood
in revolving foster homes--each wretched in different, scarring ways. Her only solace: old tapes of Etta
James, Odetta, Aretha Franklin... "the ladies," she calls them, and they teach her to sing. And man-oh-man can
this girl sing! When the buttersoft music floats out of her, she feels such release, and everyone
who hears her is stunned by the power and depth in her voice. Could she become a famous singer?
Could her voice carry her away from her painful past? Or are the wounds she suffered too deep?
Born Blue is an honest, gritty journey into the broken life of a girl who will do anything
to survive and make her dreams real. Bravely, Nolan doesn't tidy up her ending. The questions
you'll have by the end are important.
Bad
by Jean Ferris
Sixteen-year-old Dallas loves being bad so much that she can't stop.
She and her friends call it "skating" -- a little petty left, wild
joyrides in the night. Unfortunately, when she and her friends decide
to rob a convenience store at gunpoint, they make sure Dallas is the one
holding the gun so that they can split if things get hairy. They do get
hairy, and Dallas can't believe she's standing there with a gun in her hand.
When did she become bad? Dallas has plenty of time to ponder that question
because the judge sentences her to six months in a girls' rehabilitation center.
There, she discovers other people who love the thrill and exhilaration of being
"bad." In fact, not all of the girls there even want to be rehabilitated. Does
Dallas? Author Jean Ferris avoids simplifying the dynamics at play in Dallas's
life. Readers will appreciate the honest, realistic way Dallas's story unfolds,
and they will be charmed by the sparks and sassiness in Dallas's spirit.
Monster
by Walter Dean Myers
Wow. Wow. Wow. This is an amazing novel: gritty, real, surprising, challenging.
It's the story of Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old amateur filmmaker who stumbles into
a terrible situation that may change his life forever. He's on trial for felony murder
because the owner of a Harlem drugstore was shot and killed during a robbery at the
store. Did Steve serve as lookout during that robbery? Or are his "friends" trying to
frame him? Frankly, reality begins to blur for Steve as the trial starts and his future
hangs on the line. To cope, he blocks out the swirl of dialogue and courtroom proceedings
as if he were making a film of his life. How will it end? He's on the edge of his seat,
along with us, waiting to find out. Myers describes prison scenes with care, but he
doesn't hide the grim realities Steve Harmon finds there. This is a mature book.
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