Jumped

Jumped Rita Garcia-Williams

Three Girls-- Trina, who thinks she's the bees knees and that everyone everywhere is jealous of her. Dominique, who has anger issues and basketball. Leticia, who sees it all go down, but isn't going to get involved.

Trina's bopping through the hallway, when she brushes by Dominique and her girls. Dominique can't believe that Trina would disrespect her space like that. Trina's going to get jumped after school. Leticia sees what Trina did and what Dominique threatens. She won't tell Trina though, doesn't want to get on Dominique's bad side. Won't tell an adult, just waits to see the fight go down.

We follow the three girls through the day as Leticia's friend tries to get Leticia to do something, as Dominique's anger grows, as Trina's obliviousness rages on...

What struck me most about this book is how no one takes responsibility for anything. Everything is someone else's fault. It's not Leticia's fault she failed math, the teacher should have been able to scrape a few extra points up. It's not Dominique's fault she's getting kicked off the basketball team for poor grades-- it's Coach's fault for having that stupid rule in the first place. And Trina... just thinks the whole world revolves around her and everyone spends their days lusting after her and wanting to be her.

It's a harsh story that holds no punches. None of the characters really learn anything. It's brutal and raw and very, very real.

This is one I really didn't want to read. I can't say I enjoyed it-- it would be hard to enjoy such a story, but it's very, very good and I do recommend it, because it's excellent reading and excellent discussion material. This is one that should be taught.

Book Provided by... my local library

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