Juvie

by Steve Watkins Narrated by Whitney Dykhouse

Overview

Heart-wrenching and real, Juvie is the story of two sisters grappling with sacrifice, accountability-and who'll be there to help you up after you take the fall.

Sadie Windas has always been the responsible one - she's the star player on her AAU basketball team, she gets good grades, she dates a cute soccer player, and she tries to help out at home. Not like her older sister, Carla, who leaves her three-year-old daughter, Lulu, with Aunt Sadie while she parties and gets high. But when both sisters are caught up in a drug deal - wrong place, wrong time - it falls to Sadie to confess to a crime she didn't commit to keep Carla out of jail and Lulu out of foster care. Sadie is supposed to get off with a slap on the wrist, but somehow, impossibly, gets sentenced to six months in juvie. As life as Sadie knew it disappears beyond the stark bars of her cell, her anger - at her ex-boyfriend, at Carla, and at herself - fills the empty space left behind. Can Sadie forgive Carla for getting her mixed up in this mess? Can Carla straighten herself out to make a better life for Lulu, and for all of them? Can Sadie survive her time in juvie with her spirit intact?

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 09/09/2013
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.)

From the Publisher

In the midst of the terrible reality, realistically tiny glimmers of hope shine like candles fighting the darkness. A bleakly optimistic reminder to hold on to what is good.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Watkins offers a frank view of life in a juvenile detention center... Little by little, a multi-dimensional portrait of Sadie emerges, exposing her vulnerabilities and struggles with the mistakes she’s made... [A]bsorbing and wrenching.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

[T]eens, especially reluctant readers, will be drawn into the tension and action.
—School Library Journal

The truth of surviving juvie is told with unflinching honesty and may be an eye-opener to many readers. The subject matter should appeal to reluctant readers.
—VOYA

The point that not guilty doesn’t mean innocent ... is subtly made, and readers may detect it through the overt story of Sadie as a strong and caring heroine making the best of a bad situation.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Paint[s] a picture of a life of a teenager who struggles to make good choices. In the end, a hopeful picture emerges for Sadie and her family. This book could fit well in hi/lo collections.
—Library Media Connection

Compelling... A haunting story of loyalty, regret, and the fervent hope for second chances.
—Booklist

School Library Journal - Audio

01/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—Sadie, the sensible one, didn't want to go to the party. She wasn't into drinking, and she had a bad feeling when two skuzzy boys asked for a ride. Despite her misgivings, Sadie is in the driver's seat when an undercover cop appears. Carla is already on probation, and everyone assures Sadie she'll just get a slap on the wrist if she takes the fall. Things go wrong in court, however, and Sadie winds up sentenced to six months in the juvenile detention center, where she meets a rich cast of inmates, including Good Gina, Bad Gina, Chantrelle, and the Jelly Sisters. The characters are realistic, from Sadie's boyfriend to C. Miller, a female guard who shares Sadie's love of basketball. The chapters alternate between a timeline that moves from the party towards the court date, and one the progresses from Sadie's first body-cavity search to her third month in juvie. Whitney Dykhouse's slightly husky voice works well for Sadie. She isn't as convincing voicing the male characters, particularly the prison guards. Since most of this well-written and surprisingly humorous story (Candlewick, 2013) deals with young women, it doesn't distract from the ultimately hopeful story. Sadie is a strong protagonist and listeners will root for her as she serves her time.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

School Library Journal

10/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Sadie's older sister, Carla, has a history of substance abuse and arrest. One night, she gets Sadie, 17, caught in a drug deal, and they are both detained. To keep Carla from going to prison, away from her three-year-old daughter, Sadie takes the rap, thinking she'll get community service. Unable to name names, though, she is sentenced to six months in a juvenile detention unit. There, she tries to keep her head down to avoid trouble from the guards and other prisoners, but still gets caught between different factions. At the same time, she worries about her mother and niece, and whether Carla is keeping her promise to finally get her life together. Told in alternating chapters from life inside to the weeks leading up to going into juvie, Sadie's narration displays her anger and bitterness, but also her naïveté, both in regard to her sister and to her fellow inmates. Character development comes late and is a tad rushed as Sadie starts to realize that her own bad decisions put her in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some situations, like one of the guards befriending Carla on the outside and feeding information to Sadie, stretch belief. Still, teens, especially reluctant readers, will be drawn into the tension and action.—Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2013-08-15
Once you're in juvie, it doesn't matter if you're a good girl. Sadie's the good sister: taking care of her mentally ill, shut-in father; raising her party-girl sister Carla's 3-year-old daughter, Lulu; making good grades; and playing basketball in hopes of a scholarship that will get her out of her crummy Virginia town. One night, while Sadie tries to keep Carla out of trouble, the two of them are caught in a sting. Carla's on probation for shoplifting and possession, so Sadie agrees to take the fall, thinking she'll get off with some community-service hours. But she's caught before a hanging judge in the mood to make an example of drug-dealing minors, and the next thing she knows, she's spending six months in juvie. Neither the guards nor the inmates in juvenile detention are interested in rehabilitation. Demeaned and degraded, her schooling reduced to pointless GED-prep workbooks from apathetic teachers, barred from the simple comfort of human contact, Sadie doesn't see how she can return to her outward-bound trajectory when her six months are over. She wants to make friends, to avoid trouble and to protect those weaker than her, but none of that is as simple as it seems. In the midst of the terrible reality, realistically tiny glimmers of hope shine like candles fighting the darkness. A bleakly optimistic reminder to hold on to what is good. (Fiction. 13-17)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172588280
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/08/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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