Synopses & Reviews
The wrong angle
Trina: "Hey," I say, though I don't really know them. The boyed-up basketball girl barely moves. The others, her girls, step aside. It's okay if they don't speak. I know how it is. They can't all be Trina.
Dominique: Some stupid little flit cuts right in between us and is like, "Hey." Like she don't see I'm here and all the space around me is mines. I slam my fist into my other hand because she's good as jumped.
Leticia: Why would I get involved in Trina's life when I don't know for sure if I saw what I thought I saw? Who is to say I wasn't seeing it from the wrong angle?
Acclaimed author Rita Williams-Garcia intertwines the lives of three very different teens in this fast-paced, gritty narrative about choices and the impact that even the most seemingly insignificant ones can have. Weaving in and out of the girls' perspectives, readers will find themselves not with one intimate portrayal but three.
Review
“So well-observed that the characters seem to leap off the page, the novel leaves a strong and lingering impact.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“This nailbiter of a tale, told from the girls three viewpoints, has great insight into the lives of teenage girls and how they interpret and perpetrate bullying.” Chicago Tribune
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“Teens who live the reality of girl fights and getting jumped every day will surely see themselves and their friends in these girls.” Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
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“Williams-Garcia makes the drama feel not only immediate but suffocatingly tense, as each tick of the clock speeds the three girls toward collision. Most impressive is how the use of voice allows readers to fully experience the complicated politics of high school; you can sense the thousand minidramas percolating within each crowded classroom.” ALA Booklist (starred review)
Review
“With a realistic look at girlongirl violence and gripping characterization, Williams-Garcia masterfully builds tension to the momentous ending.” Kirkus Reviews
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“The latest novel from Williams-Garcia offers a piercing snapshot of three girls in an urban high school, their daily struggle to realize their hopes and dreams, and the threat of school violence to shatter them all.” Horn Book Magazine
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“Williams-Garcia has given her characters strong, individual voices that ring true to teenage speech. The ethical decision will get readers thinking about the larger issues surrounding community, personal responsibility, and the concept of ‘snitching.” School Library Journal
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“Williams-Garcia deftly creates portraits of each of the girls as the narration moves from one to another, with the triangulation of view resulting in some fascinatingly complex characterization.” Bulletin of the Center for Children & #8217;s Books
About the Author
Winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of five other distinguished novels for young adults:
Blue Tights,
Every Time a Rainbow Dies,
Fast Talk on a Slow Track,
Like Sisters on the Homefront, and
No Laughter Here, the latter four of which were chosen as ALA Best Books for Young Adults.
Like Sisters on the Homefront was also named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and a best book of the year by ALA
Booklist,
School Library Journal,
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and
Publishers Weekly. She has also written an acclaimed novel for middle-grade readers,
One Crazy Summer, which the
New York Times called "a powerful and affecting story of sisterhood and motherhood."
Rita Williams-Garcia is currently a faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. She has two daughters, Michelle and Stephanie, and lives in Jamaica, New York.