2. Keesha's House

Frost, Helen. Keesha's House. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2003.

Annotation: "So now thats what I say
                        when kids show up and I know they can't ask
                        for what they shouldn't have to ask for. They
                        need more than I can give them. I know i'm
                        no Aunt Annie. I ain't up to the task
                        of tryin' to be their legal foster dad.
                        But I can give them space-and space is time."
                                      Keesha's House, pg. 35

Justification for Nomination: Keesha's House is the intertwining novel told in prose form from the perspective of seven different teenagers and the people in their lives.  The main characters in the novel are all dealing with a broad range of issues from pregnancy to abuse to neglect.  At one point or another throughout the story, they find themselves at a home they call "Keesha's House".  It is a safe haven for teenagers who need time to work out the inner and outer struggles that they are having. 

This was a fantastically written prose novel for teenagers.  Each characters story builds throughout the story, revealing more details to the reader about the inner workings of the characters mind.  There is no action in the story that is spelled out, everything that the reader learns is through thoughts of the main teenagers.  This makes the characters very compelling because our ideas of them are formed through their own thoughts, allowing us, as readers to judge them based solely on themselves. 

Their is not one particular narrative voice in this novel, which I think is very refreshing from traditional novels because it allows readers to really picture each character as different from the others.  The dialogue throughout the entire novel takes place between the characters inner selves.  There is never a time that a dialogue takes place between two people, it is just characters discussing their issues with themselves.  I really enjoyed this style of writing because it trimmed all the excess that was not needed, the characters thoughts were raw and it made their problems and solutions seem much more real because there were no outside details to fog what was being thought.  I especially enjoyed when there were small poems from the people who were not teenagers, such as Joe and Charles, the home owner and a father of one of the boys. These insights really added to the story because it was a small insight into their thoughts, which could be used to understand the main characters situations better. 

The style of this book makes the read very fast, however, the fast paced nature of the read does not take away from the messages that the book is sending.  The topics covered are real and pertinent to teenagers today.  In the demands that young adults have on them today, such as jobs, family responsibilities and school work, they need to be able to read something quickly that still has the ability to affect them.  True writing has the ability to affect its writer in any form, not just the standard novel form.  This novel proves this to be true. 

Genre Classification: Poetry and Verse Novels