Break to You
by Neal Shusterman, Debra Young, and Michelle Knowlden
High School    Quill Tree/HarperCollins    432 pp.
7/24    9780062875761    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780062875785    $10.99

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.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.