Dear Yvette

Gr 10 Up—It's 1989, and 16-year-old Yvette Simmons is living in the Douglas Gardens apartment complex in Newark, NJ, with her two-year-old baby, Kamari, and Nana, to whom she isn't related. When Kamari's father tells Yvette that she's been accused of snitching by a former friend, Yvette fights her ex-friend at a bus stop, cutting up her face. Yvette is charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but she takes a plea deal to live with Kamari in a "professional parent home" in Norfolk, VA. Yvette is used to being abandoned by adults. Her mother, a crack addict, has been in and out of her life. After Yvette's arrest, Nana decides she wants nothing to do with Kamari. Even Yvette's old friends won't help her. So the plea deal is her only good option, and she and Kamari live with Ms. Glo and another teen, Tasha. At first, Yvette has her guard up and has several angry outbursts, but over time, she makes friends, has a romantic relationship, and learns to love living with Ms. Glo and Tasha. Simone develops Yvette into a nuanced character who, over time, sees that she can handle her problems in ways that are different from how they're dealt with on the streets of Newark. Many teens will also enjoy the 1980s street slang and fashion references.