cover image Juvie

Juvie

Steve Watkins. Candlewick, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5509-9

Watkins (What Comes After) offers a frank view of life in a juvenile detention center as he explores the inner strife of an inmate suffering the consequences of a crime she didn’t commit. Being at the wrong party at the wrong time leads to a six-month stint in juvie for 17-year-old Sadie Windas while her older sister, who should have gone to jail, gets off scot-free. Simmering with resentment, Sadie worries she may have paid too high a price for her sister’s sake. A reflective first-person narrative alternately expresses Sadie’s traumas in lockup—bullying, brawls, and lies—and her past ordeals, including her dismissal from the basketball team, breakup with a boyfriend, and desperate attempts to keep her dysfunctional family glued together. Little by little, a multi-dimensional portrait of Sadie emerges, exposing her vulnerabilities and struggles with the mistakes she’s made (“Maybe not being guilty wasn’t the same as being innocent,” she concludes). Sadie’s emotional journey, impacted by her profound discoveries about fellow inmates and her growing friendship with a kindly guard, is absorbing and wrenching. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Oct.)