Here’s a couple of books that have popped up on my radar. Having worked my way through two college degrees and still paying off student loan debt, it may be more of a focal point for me, but a lot of the teens I work with are struggling to figure out how to pay for college- and stats back up the point that more and more teens have to balance that as well.
These two books deal with what happens when financial security is ripped away, by two different circumstances. With high reviews, Sarah Tomp is being recommended to readers of Sarah Dressen, while Melody Maysonet earned a Kirkus starred review. Both are first novels as well, and both deal with deep family issues and how you deal with the question, “what do I do when the college money is gone?”
Lulu Mendez is counting down the days to leave small-town Dale, Virginia and head off to the University of San Diego. She’s never felt right in Dale, and while she’ll miss her Roni (her best friend) and her job as a “junkyard girl,” she’s counting down the days. When her dad’s business dealings fall through, however, Lulu’s chances for college fall as well, until she and her friends turn to running moonshine- and turn to Mason for help. Their cooked up scheme might actually work, but can Lulu get out before she gets caught?
Tera is an exceptional artist, who has always been the protege of her father, who is renown in the art world. When he’s arrested for possession of child pornography weeks before she’s to leave for college in Paris, Tera throws everything aside to pay for his defense and prove his innocence. While a relationship deepens and her dad’s lawyer starts to build his defense, Tera begins to doubt her memories and her father, and wonders if she’ll ever be able to get out from under his shadow no matter what the verdict. Trigger warnings: abuse, sexual issues.
I struggled bigtime to pay for college, working full-time hours as a waitress while taking full-time classes. I guess that’s why it felt natural to include that as one of Tera’s difficulties in A WORK OF ART. You’re the first person to point out this particular struggle in Tera’s life as something teens can relate to, so thank you for that.
–Melody Maysonet, author of A WORK OF ART