First published 2007
Karina dreads the final day of seventh grade. Her report card shows three Ds and a C. Classmates will laugh at her again. The principal will call her in again. But failing grades are the least of her problems. Every afternoon, Karina and her sisters rush home to dodge their stepfather's fists. When authorities finally arrest him on child abuse charges, Karina believes their nightmare has ended. She's wrong. He won't stay gone forever. At the community center where her stepfather skips his mandatory parenting classes, Karina befriends another girl. Through this friendship, she discovers hard truths about her family's journey from Haiti to upstate New York. They fled their homeland seeking safety but carried their troubles along. Now Karina realizes that if their lives are going to improve, she and her sisters must take action themselves. This debut novel follows a young girl's determination to protect her family when the adults meant to keep them safe have failed.
Genres: american-fiction, abuse, contemporary, adolescence
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, social-justice
Setting: Haiti, New York
Period: 21st-century
240 pages · Hardcover · Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Content warnings: child-abuse, domestic-violence, physical-abuse