Author Kristen McCallum adroitly constructs Free Girls, a clever and expressive YA novel about a Black teen receiving a second chance after having been labeled "trouble."
When police caught 16-year-old Jasmine riding in a stolen vehicle with friends, she was remanded to the juvenile detention center Guiding Hearts Home for Troubled Girls, where she spent 12 months. Now she's back with her mother, and their circumstances have changed drastically: her mom remarried, they live in a "big fancy house," Jas has a stepsister, and she will be attending an exclusive high school. Jas's mom asks Jas to keep her time in detention secret--"We have a chance here, Jas, a chance to do things over... do things right." But as Jas is beginning to settle into this new, comfortable life, Amari, an eccentric girl she shared a romantic connection with at Guiding Hearts, reaches out to her. Jas feels bonded to Amari, but she's trying to put her past in the past. And in the present, Jas is focused on the intimidatingly beautiful and warm Deanna.
McCallum develops intimate and complex relationships; Jas and Amari's is especially captivating. Jas knows she has been misunderstood and misidentified, and her attempts at fitting into her new life are mesmerizing as they depict her vulnerability and social-intelligence growth. Amari, equally a victim of the system, represents everything Jas and her mother want to hide. McCallum keeps a rapid pace; "Then" and "Now" chapters from Jas's point of view switch between the facility and the present, providing readers a direct and emotional connection to Jasmine's fears, joys, and struggles. --Kharissa Kenner, school media specialist, Churchill School and Center