Keesha's House

by Helen Frost

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312641276
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	01/08/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	444,545
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

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.

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. When reading the book, were you aware of the poetic forms being used? Whether or not you were conscious of it, how did the rhythm and line breaks affect your reading of the book?

2. Did you begin to recognize and differentiate between the individual voices?

3. The author has divided the book into eight parts. Why do you think she did that? How would you define the mood in each part? Describe how the mood changes as the book progresses.

4. You learn that the house is really Joe's. Why does it become known as Keesha's house?

5. Look for dynamic and static characters in the book (those who change as opposed to those who don't). Select and compare three or four of the characters. What difficulty is each facing? How has it affected his/her life? Imagine what might become of the character in the future.
6. Choose a poem from the book that you enjoy, and explore it in depth. What is the poetic form? What is the rhyme scheme? Does the author use imagery, metaphor, simile, or dialect in the poem?
7. Select an excerpt to read as a monologue, or, with a group, act out a part of the book as a play.

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher

In her first YA novel, Frost profiles seven teens in trauma, artfully revealed through sestinas and sonnets. With pregnant Stephie's opening lines, she conveys a bittersweet contrast typical of the collection: "My parents still think I'm their little girl./ I don't want them to see me getting bigger,/ bigger every week, almost too big to hide it now." Katie's stepfather tries to molest her, and Harris is thrown out of the house when he reveals that he's gay. Each character ends up at Keesha's house (the house really belongs to an adult named Joe, but teen Keesha, who has her own problems, looks after the arrangements and the kids who wind up there). Some characters simply pass through, while others form a family. The adults in their lives, such as parents, a judge and even Joe, offer other perspectives on the teens' lives. The struggles may be familiar, but Frost makes her characters and their daily lives seem relevant and authentic (in one poem, Katie describes how the smallest wrinkle-a new bus schedule-brings her to tears because she now won't have time to change for work; in another, Dontay dreads being tracked down by his case worker), often using striking imagery ("All my questions are like wind-tossed/ papers in the street," Stephie writes). 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. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up-Jason states it best: "-It looks to me like the kids at Keesha's house are wearing/lives designed for people twice their age." When they can't go home, this is where they come. Poignant poems tell their stories. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Sestinas and sonnets carry the storyline in Frost's multi-voiced story of teens struggling to find their way in the world. While playing somewhat with the structure required, Frost underplays her virtuosity to let readers focus on the characters and their plight. Seven teen voices are heard in describing their individual need to find a secure home and in two sections the voices of various adults round out the narrative. Stephie and her boyfriend Jason struggle with a pregnancy that seems sure to blight their futures. Keesha has found Joe's house and made it her refuge, offering hope to Katie and, in turn, the others. Katie's stepfather is trying to abuse her and her mother is unwilling or unable to protect her. Carmen is trying to help Dontay, who hates his new foster home, when her drinking lands her in jail. Staying at the home of their out-of-control father, Keesha's brother Tobias sounds the wake-up call without speaking a word in the poems. His fate is a catalyst that draws the others gradually together for support. In a surprisingly rigid format, the poems manage to seem spontaneous and still carry the plot easily. With a number of threads to follow, no one character is at the center, but there is great satisfaction in seeing the narratives gradually mesh as the isolation recedes and support is given. Impressive. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews