Keesha's House — Helen Frost

An unforgettable narrative collage told in poems

Keesha has found a safe place to live, and other kids gravitate to her house when they just can't make it on their own. They are Stephie -- pregnant, trying to make the right decisions for herself and those she cares about; Jason -- Stephie's boyfriend, torn between his responsibility to Stephie and the baby and the promise of a college basketball career; Dontay -- in foster care while his parents are in prison, feeling unwanted both inside and outside the system; Carmen -- arrested on a DUI charge, waiting in a juvenile detention center for a judge to hear her case; Harris -- disowned by his father after disclosing that he's gay, living in his car, and taking care of himself; Katie -- angry at her mother's loyalty to an abusive stepfather, losing herself in long hours of work and school.

Stretching the boundaries of traditional poetic forms -- sestinas and sonnets -- Helen Frost's extraordinary debut novel for young adults weaves together the stories of these seven teenagers as they courageously struggle to hold their lives together and overcome their difficulties.