Forgive Me Not

Gr 8 Up–Fifteen-year-old Violetta Chen-Samuels is 22 days into detention for killing her seven-year-old sister in a drunk-driving chase to see her boyfriend. Her family is about to bestow judgment: pardon, Trials, or imprisonment. Debut novelist Baker reimagines a juvenile incarceration system (that already unjustly criminalizes BIPOC youth) in which “victims of (alleged) crimes [decide] the fate of those who committed them.” Letta gets Trials: “We need you to...repent.” Back at home, brother Vince is cracking under the pressure of being the seemingly perfect, oldest child. Collier’s slightly scratchy voice heightens desperate Letta in crisis, embodying the gamut of precarious emotions and bewildered reactions. Holmes, who is mixed-race Chinese and Black like his character, makes his aural debut as Vince, regretful for not protecting his sisters, aching for empathy from friends and family.