My rating:

Sixteen-year-old Jody Walker locks herself in a gas station bathroom after her new husband, Bobby, hits her. He abandons her there, miles away from her home, with just twenty dollars in her pocket and the clothes on her back. Her own mother continues to be beaten—and stay with—her father, so Jody knows she will get no help from her, but just advice to try to make it work. But Jody has more courage, and a tiny bit more self-worth than that. So she tries to make a new life for herself.

At first things seem dismal. It's hard to find a job, and when she finally finds one, it's just doing dishes. She has nowhere to live, and ends up sleeping in a cinema. But eventually she finds a place to live, and some friends, and even someone more lost than she is.

Jody's voice is unique and colorful, although at times does not seem consistent. Jody uses determination, courage, optimism, and resourcefulness to make a new and better life for herself. She also shares tidbits of her unique wisdom, and has good values. We want her to succeed, and we want to care. In many ways Jody is a likeable character, but it doesn't feel like we ever quite get inside her, or that we come to care deeply about her. And although she used great strength and courage to get herself away from Bobby, her abusive husband, she lets herself be used by Effaline, an unlikeable character, and this reduces Jody's strength.

Many of the characters do not seem to be fully realized, and although the story flows, it does not grip the reader. At many points it feels like the story is staying on the surface of things, not quite going deep enough, or coming alive enough. Yet there are moments of dramatic tension.

There are positive messages intertwined throughout the book, and lots of positive events and people that help balance out the pain of abuse, poverty, and worry. And there is a nice contrast between what Jody says, and what she does and how she is. (For instance, she puts herself down and thinks she's not strong, but we see how truly strong she is for getting herself safe and striving for a better life.)

This is not a gritty book, despite the subject matter. There is not a lot of focus on the past abuse, and Jody has enough survival instinct to keep herself off the streets. There is also a good mixture of humor that helps lighten the story. We see Jody grow into herself more, and in the end, stand up for herself. There are important messages in this book, about having self-esteem, not allowing abuse, standing up for one's self, being kind and compassionate, helping others and allowing oneself to be helped. The book is a good read.

-Added September, 2004

My rating:

Seventeen-year-old Anna survives a traumatic car accident. But the accident has left her with physical and emotional scars that she has to struggle to overcome. How severe those wounds are, Anna doesn't realize at first—and neither do the doctors. Her broken neck goes undetected for several days—something that could have permanently injured her.

The accident has scarred Anna's face...something she finds hard to deal with. But even harder is the physical pain she has to withstand, the insecurity and inner turmoil that replaces her former confidence, and her inability to control her body the way she used to.

Before the accident, Anna was confident, pretty, popular, and athletic; she was a star at karate. All that has changed. Her boyfriend doesn't seem to really care about her any more. Her friends are involved in their own lives. She can't stand looking at her face in the mirror. And she has to learn to walk again. Anna leans on the support of her family, discovers a new, more mature love interest—and find strength and courage inside her to keep moving forward. She delves inward to discover her true self—and comes out stronger.

Throughout the long process of physical and emotional healing, Anna's responses are honest, profound, and utterly believable. You can almost feel the pain she goes through. Incredibly vivid, almost poetic at times, this book is a powerful, gripping read. Highly recommended.

-Added April 30, 2003

My rating:

Fifteen-year-old Chan ran away from home, and now she lives on the streets. She moves from abandoned building to abandoned building, always trying to find someplace warm, someplace safe to spend the nights. Her most familiar state is to be cold, hungry, dirty—and desperately needing money. Often she's afraid—afraid of some of the other runaways, afraid of rough boys who look at her as she passes by, afraid of police raids that close down the illegal places she holes up in with other runaways.

She's often lonely, too—but she didn't realize how lonely she was until Elizabeth showed up. Elizabeth is eleven years old, and looks even younger—much too young to be on the streets, alone. The other runaways that Chan is staying with don't want to let Elizabeth stay; they're afraid of the attention she'll bring. But Chan takes Elizabeth under her wing—and starts to care about others.

When a police raid occurs where they're staying, Chan and Elizabeth barely escape. Chan becomes determined to get them off the streets, and finds a way to rent a small, illegal room for the two of them to stay. But through a series of misunderstandings, Chan is once again on her own...until she tries to reach out to the father who loved her.

The poverty and horrible conditions that Chan and her friends have to live under are vivid and grittingly real. If you think running away from home is a romantic notion, this book will dispel that myth within seconds.

This book is a gritty, emotional, and often insightful tale of life on the streets. The characters are well-rounded, the setting is so real you can almost touch it, and the writing is almost lyrical at times.

This taut story falls apart a little in the last fifth of the book, and at times chapters are not as well thought out as the rest of the book. Although Chan's choice to reach out to her father was touching, her motivation and steps that took her to that choice were not entirely believable. However, this book is still an engaging read.

-Added April 29, 2003