Rikers High
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
An unflinching story about justice, courage, and the life of one young man behind bars.
“Volponi, who taught on Rikers Island for six years, writes with an authenticity that will make readers feel Martin’s fear.”—Publishers Weekly
“Brings to life a believable range of teachers, COs, and inmates and portrays power, hierarchies, and race relations both outside and inside the jail walls with unflinching realism.”—School Library Journal
Sometimes hope can come out of a horrible nightmare . . .
At only seventeen years of age, Martin Stokes is arrested and jailed for something he didn’t mean to do. And five months later, he is still in prison on Rikers Island. Just when things couldn’t get worse, Martin gets caught in a fight, and his face is slashed. Scarred forever, there is one good thing that comes from the attack: Martin is transferred to a different part of Rikers where inmates must attend high school. There he meets a teacher who gives him hope. But can Martin take the help he is offered, or will he be consumed with getting revenge on his attackers?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Volponi (Homestretch) recasts his adult novel, Rikers (Black Heron, 2002), for a teen audience that will likely be riveted. Seventeen-year-old Martin Stokes has been imprisoned for five months, awaiting trial for a petty crime. Returning from court, he cannot get out of the way when another inmate attacks the boy to whom he is shackled. Martin's face is slashed with a razor; the ensuing scar is a metaphor for the mark prison will leave on the boy, who is no angel (he tells his harried legal aid lawyer she is a miserable shit ), but whose punishment bears absolutely no relationship to his crime. His break comes when a jailhouse teacher helps him see the importance of finishing school, setting Martin on a path to make the right choice when he's yet again thrust into a violent altercation not of his own making. Volponi, who taught on Rikers Island for six years, writes with an authenticity that will make readers feel Martin's fear. Ages 12 up.
