03/11/2024
Accused of murdering a wealthy businessman and slated to be prosecuted as an adult, white 15-year-old Ruby Monroe faces a potential death sentence while awaiting trial in a Dallas prison where she is “just another wild thing in a cage.” Only Ruby knows the truth about the purported homicide—but that truth is buried under memories of abuse, exploitation, houselessness, and neglect. While preparing for trial and reflecting upon a quarrel with an estranged friend, Ruby confides in Cadence Ware, a white social worker whose personal history of trauma enables her to see beyond Ruby’s “difficult” veneer. As Ruby gains insight into how past experiences shape impulses and decisions, she and Dr. Ware make morally gray choices that could determine the trial’s outcome. Sumrow (The Inside Battle) crafts suspense through a compelling, patchwork narrative that combines fictional press releases, letters, notes, legal memos, and close third-person prose. Skilled pacing transforms a typical ripped-from-the-headlines premise into a nail-biting investigation of financial precarity and child sex trafficking informed by Sumrow’s work as a lawyer, as disclosed in an author’s note. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jonathan Rosen, Seymour Agency. (June)
"Keeps you guessing until the very last page. Sumrow's brilliantly-conceived novel is a harrowing journey into child sex trafficking and the United States legal system—and a complicated character study in which how someone is perceived is just as consequential as who they are. Masterful." — Eliot Schrefer, Printz and Stonewall Honor-winning author of The Darkness Outside Us
"Girls Like Her is a compelling study of the impossible choices faced by millions of young girls today. In this heartbreaking and hopeful story, Melanie Sumrow reminds us to look and listen to those who need it most." — Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of The Blackwoods
“A gut punch.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
"Sumrow crafts suspense through a compelling, patchwork narrative that combines fictional press releases, letters, notes, legal memos, and close third-person prose. Skilled pacing transforms a typical ripped-from-the-headlines premise into a nail-biting investigation of financial precarity and child sex trafficking." — Publishers Weekly
"Reads like true crime. An eye-opening depiction of the criminal justice system’s treatment of young, vulnerable citizens." — Kirkus Reviews
"Sumrow add[s] sobering authenticity to this gripping legal drama. A nonlinear timeline and fictionalized materials that foretell a plot twist add interest and suspense to Ruby’s story of falling through the cracks and, unlike so many others, eventually being found." — Booklist
“Keep[s] readers hooked with a desire to find out Ruby’s side of the story, and what the verdict of [her] trial will be. For fans of emotionally intense reading, like Ellen Hopkins’s Crank and books by Tiffany D. Jackson.” — School Library Journal
06/01/2024
Gr 10 Up—Ruby Monroe is in a Dallas jail, the alleged killer of a beloved local millionaire, Eric Hanson. Even though she is only 15 years old, she will be tried as an adult for capital murder. Ruby's only hope for not spending life in prison is to tell the story of her childhood and the events that led up to Eric's death. Sumrow shares Ruby's story through a collection of letters, court transcripts, and articles interspersed with a narrative of Ruby's visits with Cadence, her social worker, while she awaits trial. Her life is a heartbreaking story of child abuse, family drug addiction, and sex trafficking, and the teen's anger and fear is palpable. And, while her attitude can make it hard for readers to connect with her, it is very hard not to sympathize with Ruby upon learning all the things she has suffered. The court transcripts help keep readers hooked with a desire to find out Ruby's side of the story, and what the VERDICT of the trial will be. Ruby is white. VERDICT For fans of emotionally intense reading, like Ellen Hopkins's Crank and books by Tiffany D. Jackson.—Mariah Smitala
2024-03-23
A ripped-from-the-headlines story shines a light on children who are tried as adults.
On January 7, 2022, millionaire Eric Hanson was murdered. Within hours, 14-year-old Ruby Monroe was arrested for the crime. So begins Ruby’s story, which alternates between narrative chapters, court transcripts, newspaper articles, and letters. Ruby spends months in Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center, but when the judge grants the prosecutor’s request to have her case transferred to adult court, she’s moved to the women’s jail. Ruby’s previous distrust of her public defender and the social worker brought in to help build her defense has stymied their efforts to prevent the transfer. But now, with a July 2023 court date looming, Ruby slowly opens up to the social worker about earlier events in her life. As the layers are peeled away, it becomes clear that the story involves more than a simple robbery that went awry and resulted in a shooting. The events leading up to Ruby’s arrest and the depiction of her time in jail are jarring and graphic. Much of the story reads like true crime, although Ruby’s letters to her friend Maya feel more like a device to fill gaps in the storyline than an authentic teen voice. Main characters are cued white; Maya has brown skin.
An eye-opening depiction of the criminal justice system’s treatment of young, vulnerable citizens. (content warning, author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)
