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A review by alex_hobbs01
Keesha's House by Helen Frost
3.0
I chose to read this book for class, and I liked it. It's a book that isn't afraid to go ahead and dive into some of the heavier issues that teens face: unplanned pregnancy, alternative sexuality, adoption services, parental abuse, and alcoholism are among some of the issues discussed. It's also written in poetic form, making it a fairly quick read and giving it an interesting style. I would recommend it to kids who haven't really caught onto reading just yet (perhaps reading takes to long, or they find books inapplicable to themselves) or any student who I knew needed a safe place, a personal "Keesha's House" if you would.
As we saw in class, there are numerous ways to use this book in a middle school or high school setting. You can use it to teach poetry, dialogue, punctuation, language, or anything else with mechanics. You can also use it as a way to spur good research topics for your class. The issues I've listed above could rouse some interesting papers with a wide variety of topics.
Parental Guide-SPOILERS
Profanity-2 instances of "God." 1 instance of "faggot"The language is very mild in this book.
Violence-There's talk of "killing" a baby in reference to a possible abortion. A girl's arm gets twisted by an abusive father. A girl's body is found in the river (that's all that's said). A boy shows up with a burn on his arm from an abusive father. That same boy is killed in gang violence (not graphically told).
Sex/Nudity-One boy struggles with homosexual feelings (nothing explicit ever said). It's implied that a man might molest a young boy in a public place (a protagonist stops it from happening). One protagonist is pregnant (nothing of conception really mentioned).
Drugs/Alcohol-One boy is in a gang and is a drug carrier. No drug use mentioned. One girl struggles with an alcohol addiction and has a DUI. One father is an alcoholic and abusive.
Vulgarity-The girl who was pregnant "started bleeding" and the baby is lost.
As we saw in class, there are numerous ways to use this book in a middle school or high school setting. You can use it to teach poetry, dialogue, punctuation, language, or anything else with mechanics. You can also use it as a way to spur good research topics for your class. The issues I've listed above could rouse some interesting papers with a wide variety of topics.
Parental Guide-SPOILERS
Profanity-2 instances of "God." 1 instance of "faggot"The language is very mild in this book.
Violence-There's talk of "killing" a baby in reference to a possible abortion. A girl's arm gets twisted by an abusive father. A girl's body is found in the river (that's all that's said). A boy shows up with a burn on his arm from an abusive father. That same boy is killed in gang violence (not graphically told).
Sex/Nudity-One boy struggles with homosexual feelings (nothing explicit ever said). It's implied that a man might molest a young boy in a public place (a protagonist stops it from happening). One protagonist is pregnant (nothing of conception really mentioned).
Drugs/Alcohol-One boy is in a gang and is a drug carrier. No drug use mentioned. One girl struggles with an alcohol addiction and has a DUI. One father is an alcoholic and abusive.
Vulgarity-The girl who was pregnant "started bleeding" and the baby is lost.