Keesha's House By Helen Frost

1.  Bibliography
Frost, Helen.  2003.  KEESHA'S HOUSE.  New York:  Frances Foster Books.  ISBN 9780374340643


2.  Plot Summary
Keesha lives at Joe's house.  There she has found a place where she feels safe from the outside world.  Her father is an alcoholic who becomes mean when he drinks. "What would a real home be like?" (6)  She can stay in school and work part time and does not have to worry about her life.   Joe was taken in by his grandma when he was 12.  Now he is grown up and  taking in lost souls and giving them a safe place to stay.   Keesha meets other teenagers that she goes to school with and invites them to stay at Joe's house, so they can stay in school and feel safe.  "She'll go hone again tonight, but one night soon, she find her way here" (6).  Dontay's parents are in prison and he does not fit in with his foster family.  Stephie has found out that she is pregnant and is unsure what to do.  Harris is gay and his family has disowned him.  "Dad said if I didn't have enough respect for him to act normal, how could I expect him to keep supporting me?" (12)  Katie's mother does not believe that her new husband is abusing her daughter.

3.  Critical Analysis

This story take place in a normal suburb of America to bring to life the voices of teenagers trying to survive.  The way the author has organized the book makes the story strong and conveys the feelings of the characters.  Each character shares their own thoughts and feelings through individual poems from their point of view.  "You fell like jumpin' in the nearest car and drivin' outta town, keepin' goin' till you find someplace that feels like home" (11).  The author has included not only the teens in the stories point of view, but also the adults that are in their lives.  "They need more than I can give them.  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" (35).  The adults parts are brief but they give the reader a complete perspective of what is happening in the book.  Every one's thoughts and feelings are mentioned.  The emotions in the poem are natural and the reader can feel the pain the characters are in.  "It's like having sisters being here" (96).    "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).  The words have a rhyme and rhythm to fit the meaning of the poem and bring the characters voices to life.  Every letter used to convey the characters story was careful chosen to add to the emotions of what is happening in the story. "This moving first novel tells the story in a series of dramatic monologues that are personal, poetic, and immediate" (Booklist).   The language used in the poems is written the way teenagers talk in present day.  The words that they use to convey information are set up in patterns to make sonnets and sestinas.  The words of the poem invoke images for the reader to picture what is happening in the book.   "Spare, eloquent, and elegantly concise"  (VOYA).  

This is a wonderful book that conveys the troubled lives of teenagers by using poetry to tell the story.  The poems are balanced with the perspective of both teen and adult.  The theme of the book is self vs. society.  Will the teenagers be able to grow up and become who they want to be with all of the outside influences?  The age range for this books is 12 and up.  The author has made the story appealing to all age groups with the interesting way the information is written and the strong emotions in the poems.  

4.  Review Excerpts

Michael L. Printz Honor Book

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL remarks:  "It sounds like a soap opera, but the poems that recount these stories unfold realistically. Revealing heartbreak and hope, these poems could stand alone, but work best as a story collection. Teens may read this engaging novel without even realizing they are reading poetry."
BOOKLIST says:  "Interwoven with the angry, desperate teen voices are those of the adults in their lives: caring, helpless, abusive, indifferent. In a long note, Frost talks about the poetic forms she has used, the sestina and the sonnet. But most readers will be less interested in that framework than in the characters, drawn with aching realism, who speak poetry in ordinary words and make connections."

5.  Connections
Other books about growing up in a poem format:
Frank, E.R.  LIFE IS FUNNY:  A NOVEL.  ISBN 07894263
Frost, Helen.  CROSSING STONES.  ISBN 9780374316532