Something Like Hope
winner of the Delacorte Contest
Seventeen-year-old Shavonne has been in and out of juvenile detention since the eighth grade. Angry and confused, she turns to Mr. Delpopolo, an overweight, sad-eyed man who is struggling to accept the reality of his own shattered life. With compassion and honesty, he helps Shavonne understand the connection between her self-destructive behavior and the shame about her past that burns through her so with so much intensity. For the first time, she tells the truth about her crack-addicted mother, the baby she delivered straight into the foster care system, and the pain she feels about her role in her brother’s accident.
But even as Shavonne comes to understand the past, her present – life in the Center – threatens to explode in even more violence and confusion. Her fellow inmates, who have suffered their own unspeakable tragedies, can’t seem to escape the abusive guards and careless counselors who corrupt the system and make it impossible for even the most well-meaning employees to make a difference. But as her eighteenth birthday draws nearer, Shavonne is touched by a series of unexpected kindnesses that shift her vision of the world. She begins to believe that maybe she, like the goslings recently hatched on the Center’s property, could have a future beyond the barbed-wire walls of the system.
This gritty and unflinchingly honest look at life in juvenile detention, winner of the 2009 Delacorte Contest, will break your heart, change the way you think about “troubled” teens, and ultimately, leave you feeling something like hope.
