Keesha's House - by Helen Frost (Paperback)

About the Book

Keesha's house is the place other kids end up when they just can't make it on their own. Stephie is pregnant, trying to do the right thing. Jason, her boyfriend, is torn between responsibility and a college basketball career. Dontay's parents are in prison; he's in foster care. Carmen's drunk-driving arrest could turn into jail time. Harris's father disowned him after he admitted that he's gay. Katie is trying to escape from an abusive stepfather. Helen Frost's extraordinary novel in verse weaves together the stories of these seven teenagers as they courageously struggle to hold their lives together.

Book Synopsis

An unforgettable narrative collage told in poems

Keesha has found a safe place to live, and other kids gravitate to her house when they just can't make it on their own. They are Stephie - pregnant, trying to make the right decisions for herself and those she cares about; Jason - Stephie's boyfriend, torn between his responsibility to Stephie and the baby and the promise of a college basketball career; Dontay - in foster care while his parents are in prison, feeling unwanted both inside and outside the system; Carmen - arrested on a DUI charge, waiting in a juvenile detention center for a judge to hear her case; Harris - disowned by his father after disclosing that he's gay, living in his car, and taking care of himself; Katie - angry at her mother's loyalty to an abusive stepfather, losing herself in long hours of work and school.

Stretching the boundaries of traditional poetic forms - sestinas and sonnets - Helen Frost's extraordinary debut novel for young adults weaves together the stories of these seven teenagers as they courageously struggle to hold their lives together and overcome their difficulties.

Keesha's House is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Review Quotes

"Frost has taken the poem-story to a new level with well-crafted sestinas and sonnets, leading readers into the souls and psyches of her teen protagonists . . . engaging." --School Library Journal, Starred Review

"Spare, eloquent, and elegantly concise." --VOYA

"This moving first novel tells the story in a series of dramatic monologues that are personal, poetic, and immediate." --Booklist

"Impressive." --Kirkus Reviews

"Making the most of the poetic forms, the author breathes life into these teens and their stories, resulting in a thoughtfully composed and ultimately touching book." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

HELEN FROST is the author of many award-winning books for children and young adults, including Diamond Willow, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award, The Braid, Crossing Stones, and Hidden, available from FSG in May 2011. She is the recipient of a 2009-2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. She lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.