Runaway Girl: Escaping Life on the Streets, One Helping Hand at a Time by Carissa Phelps

When Carissa Phelps was just twelve years old, she was kidnapped by a pimp. This is the introduction she gives herself, later on, each time she finds herself telling her story to a new group of people. Carissa, who is now an attorney and a youth advocate, has written down her story in this memoir and it’s an inspirational ride. Her teen years were turbulent; she spent most of them running from one dangerous situation to the next. Placed in group home after group home, spending time in juvenile hall and alternative school programs, the author reflects often on the adults she met along the way who believed in her and gave her courage. Students might relate to her history of emotional and sexual abuse, but they will absolutely be able to connect with her time spent in and out of group homes and juvenile hall. I am often asked by students for books about “real people who had it rough, but made it out in the end,” and this book fits that description perfectly. Carissa’s story demonstrates that anything is possible with the support of a few caring individuals and a lot of determination. --Anja Kennedy

Phelps, Carissa, with Larkin Warren.  Runaway Girl: Escaping Life on the Streets, One Helping Hand at a Time.  New York: Viking-Penguin, 2012.  Print.

Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy by Yasmin Shiraz

This year has seen an increased demand for books about relationships from girls here at Bronx Hope. Blueprint for My Girls in Love is often exactly what they’re looking for. Author and empowerment speaker Yasmin Shiraz has compiled ninety-nine rules for girls to help them keep their heads up and stay strong in the face of love and dating. Divided into three parts, Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy, Shiraz breaks it down with simple statements from the powerful, rule #12, “Self-love impacts every relationship that you will ever have” to the blunt, rule #32, “A boyfriend that hits you isn’t worth keeping.” For each of her ninety-nine rules, Shiraz describes the rule, includes a related personal anecdote to support the rule, and follows it with what she calls a “blueprint” and “your testimony.” The blueprints are usually one-liners where she models how she will take what she’s experienced and change her actions in the future; “your testimony” includes questions and sentence starters for readers to think about how they can connect their own stories to Shiraz’s rules.  Included in the back of the book is a section on who readers can talk to when they need support and, separately, information about birth control. Recommended for independent reading, especially for girls looking to make sense of their relationships with some straight-forward advice. --Anja Kennedy

Shiraz, Yasmin. Blueprint for My Girls in Love: 99 Rules for Dating, Relationships, and Intimacy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. Print.

Bad Boy by Dream Jordan

Kate is at a new group home where she has to once again prove to her housemates that she is not someone they can walk all over.  But after coming so far, and learning that not every conflict should be resolved with a fist fight, Kate wants to navigate the situation a little differently.  Unfortunately her new housemates are not giving her much of a choice.  Feeling isolated and lonely, Kate finds refuge in Percy; he’s hot, he’s cool and has plenty of money.  But Percy isn’t all like he seems.  Kate soon finds herself in a spiraling-out-of-control abusive relationship.  Bad Boy by Dream Jordan talks about a  mature topic and, through Kate, sends a very powerful message, “Nobody is immune from abuse.  Tough girls, rich girls, white girls, black girls… even grown women get abused… anybody can fall prey.”

Although this book may be accessible to middle school readers, the topic seems better suited for a teen audience. The pacing of the book is a little fast but it is a great way to engage teens in thinking and talking about dating violence. This book would be strengthened by a resource list for teens seeking more information in dealing with abusive relationships. Students who enjoyed Hot Girl, Such a Pretty Girl and nearly anything by Ni-Ni Simone should enjoy Bad Boy.--Claudio Leon

Jordan, Dream.  Bad Boy. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012. Print

My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt

Angel’s been running away from home ever since her mom died, but she usually only goes so far as the mall before she returns home or the police pick her up for shoplifting.  After Angel is seduced by an ambitious pimp who feeds her addictive drugs, Angel’s distraught father makes the grave mistake of telling Angel not to come home until she cleans up her act.  Call, a pimp remarkable for his intent to lead a grassroots effort to legalize prostitution, seizes the the opportunity to take over Angel’s life and move her into downtown Vancouver. Initially terrorized by Call, Angel eventually becomes preoccupied with protecting a younger girl from the life Call has given her and fighting the attendant drug addiction.  Told in haunting verse, the end of the book roots Leavitt’s fiction in the real-life disappearances of forty-nine women.  School librarians will want to know that the depiction of minors sexually abused by adults makes this book appropriate for more emotionally mature audiences.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Macmillian offers a discussion guide here.  Click here to read School Library Journal’s interview with author Martine Leavitt.

Leavitt, Martine.  My Book of Life by Angel.  New York:  Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2012.