Guest Blog Post: Kendra by Coe Booth

Kendra is the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with a boy from her school. On the surface it sounds like a typical love story but as it progresses the reader learns that Kendra is neglected by her mother in order to live out the life she was unable to after having Kendra at a young age. Kendra now lives with her over-protective grandmother who fears that Kendra might turn out just like her mother, pregnant at a young age. She obsessively watches over her and tries to keep track of every second of Kendra's life, especially now that Kendra is the same age her mother was when she became pregnant. With her mother absent and a boy that makes her feel loved, will Kendra be strong enough to resist the temptations ahead of her? Or will she follow along in her mother's footsteps? Kendra will surely connect with students as it did with my sister. We read the book together and the book connected more with her than with me, mostly because she likes romance and she has a parent who constantly watches her every move. I think this book can teach a valuable lesson to parents that they may not want to hear, which is that teenage children will do what they want to do even under constant watch and parents have to learn to trust their children's choices. -- Claudio Leon

-- Claudio Leon was a founding member of Passages Academy's library team. Mr. Leon served as Passages' Library Assistant from Spring 2007 until Fall 2009; he is currently pursuing a career in computer information technology. His presence on the team and at Horizon is missed tremendously.

Booth, Coe. Kendra. New York: Scholastic PUSH, 2008.