Break to You

April 1, 2024
Two incarcerated teens fall in love at a gender-segregated juvenile detention center in this uniquely rendered romance by Knowlden, Shusterman, and Young. High school junior Adriana Zaharn writes rhythmic poems in her journal while serving time at Compass, where “days pass in a numbing rain of emotional sleet.” When she misplaces the notebook, 17-year-old Artorias Jonathan “Jon” Kilgore cleverly smuggles it back to her via the Compass library. Adriana’s relief sours upon discovering that Jon has added brazen responses to several entries, yet the journal becomes a lifeline for both as friendly banter evolves into flirtatious revelry between poems and letters, compelling the pair to do the impossible: meet. The intersectionally diverse teen characters that populate this smoothly plotted, emotionally intense read are fully developed and represent a range of incarceration experiences; mostly one-dimensional adults spotlight warped ideas of justice that permeate a corrupt judicial system. Close third-person narration melds letters and slam poetry–inspired verse to deliver a high-stakes, dual-perspective love story that critiques juvenile incarceration and celebrates the connective power of the written word. Jon is Black; Adriana is of Moroccan descent. An author’s note concludes. Ages 13–up.

May 1, 2024
Two incarcerated teens find hope and connection within the pages of a shared journal. The silver lining of Adriana's court-ordered seven-month stint in Compass Juvenile Detention Center is the treasured journal where she writes her private thoughts in verse. After misplacing it, she's furious to find the journal shelved in the library, its pages defaced by someone else's writing. But this person isn't just writing commentary--he's writing to her. Jon has spent nearly four years developing a "fierce reputation" at Compass. The two create a clever method of exchanging the journal, shedding their tough exteriors and revealing their innermost selves to one another. Security inside the gender-divided facility renders in-person contact between Adriana and Jon impossible, but with help from their friends, they hatch a risky plan to lay everything on the line. The intensity of their infatuation escalates quickly, setting the pace for the story's action-packed second half, which includes a secret code, a hidden plan, and betrayal. Adriana has Moroccan, Greek, and Spanish ancestry, and Jon is Black; teens who are diverse in ethnicity, race, and ability live at Compass. Told in Jon's and Adriana's alternating perspectives, the story paints a vivid picture of a harsh reality but misses the opportunity to address class, race, and the impact of racism in the juvenile detention system in meaningful ways. An evocative glimpse into an unjust and unforgiving system with a gooey love story at its core. (authors' note) (Fiction. 13-17)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2024
Grades 8-12 Adriana, part Moroccan and a high-school junior, enters Compass Juvenile Detention Center for a seven-month sentence. She is angry and anxious and needs every instinct she possesses to survive and figure out whom to trust. During library time, she accidentally leaves her journal behind. When it reappears days later (shelved next to The Book Thief), a boy has added an anonymous entry. Adriana replies, incensed, and leaves the journal in place. So begins a correspondence, sometimes in prose, often in poetry from slam to lyrical to power ballad. Jon, 17 and Black, has been incarcerated for years. Both seek second chances, but if they manage to course correct, it won't be thanks to the manipulative psychologist or racist guards at Compass. Gradually, they fall in love. But the facility is segregated; how can they meet? Each recruits their closest allies to the heist-like effort, a thrilling chance to outsmart the system. Late tonal shifts and one-dimensional adults mar the narrative, but this smoothly plotted, suspenseful, heartrending novel deftly portrays time inside high-security juvenile detention.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2024

Gr 8 Up-Adriana has no idea how she ended up at the Compass Juvenile Detention Center. Sure, she's made some bad choices and associated with the wrong people, but she never did anything illegal herself. When she helps the wrong friend at the wrong time, she's left holding the bag and sentenced to seven months in juvie. She's just biding her time, dreading the awkward visits from her family, and trying to stay out of trouble until she loses her journal and it mysteriously reappears with notes from a stranger. Jon knows exactly why he is at Compass, but no one else knows the truth but his counselor. Rumors abound about what crime landed him in the detention center for his entire high school career. When he finds an uncatalogued book in the library and discovers it is an illicit journal from an inmate on the girl's side, he can't help but share his critique with the author. This modern-day Romeo & Juliet story is told through alternating viewpoints, letters, and poems. Instead of family obligations keeping them apart, Jon and Adriana are separated by bad choices and an unjust system. The mystery of what Jon did to deserve his stay at the facility, and the truth, will break readers' hearts. VERDICT Hand this book to readers who enjoy emotionally raw, true-to-life stories like Saints of the Household by Ari Tison or Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.-Sara Brunkhorst

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2024
Adriana Zarahn was in the wrong place at the wrong time, helping the wrong friend, and now she's at Compass, a juvenile detention facility, for seven months. The facility is separated into a girls' and a boys' side, with each side using the cafeteria and library at different times. Adriana pours her thoughts and feelings into her journal but then accidentally leaves it behind in the library. When she finds it later, shelved in the Zs, somebody else has written notes in it. Thus begins her correspondence with Jon from the boys' side. Unlike Adriana, Jon has been at Compass for a while; the exact nature of his crime is a mystery that drives the plot. The story is told in a third-person, present-tense voice that follows Adriana and Jon in alternating sections. They may not be able to trust their peers or the adults in the system, but they form a bond that deepens over the course of the novel and blooms into love. If only they could find a way to meet. While the story stretches credulity in spots, the coauthors have crafted an immersive reading experience with elements of romance and intrigue even as it provokes readers to consider the inherent flaws in our juvenile justice system. Jonathan Hunt

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Adriana Zarahn was in the wrong place at the wrong time, helping the wrong friend, and now she's at Compass, a juvenile detention facility, for seven months. The facility is separated into a girls' and a boys' side, with each side using the cafeteria and library at different times. Adriana pours her thoughts and feelings into her journal but then accidentally leaves it behind in the library. When she finds it later, shelved in the Zs, somebody else has written notes in it. Thus begins her correspondence with Jon from the boys' side. Unlike Adriana, Jon has been at Compass for a while; the exact nature of his crime is a mystery that drives the plot. The story is told in a third-person, present-tense voice that follows Adriana and Jon in alternating sections. They may not be able to trust their peers or the adults in the system, but they form a bond that deepens over the course of the novel and blooms into love. If only they could find a way to meet. While the story stretches credulity in spots, the coauthors have crafted an immersive reading experience with elements of romance and intrigue even as it provokes readers to consider the inherent flaws in our juvenile justice system.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)