Edification of Sonya Crane, The

The Edification of Sonya Crane Kimani Press, 2007, 248 pp., $9.99 Biracial/Death/Drugs/Abuse ISBN-13: 978-0-373-83077-0

Sonya Crane is a teenager who has experienced some atrocities in her life. Her mother, Doris, a real estate agent with a drug addiction, forces Sonya to move from a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta to a predominantly black neighborhood in East Atlanta and live with Madison, a drug dealer who supplies Doris with her fix in exchange for sexual favors from Doris and Sonya.

Despite her problems, Sonya looks forward to attending high school. On her first day, she meets Tandy. Sonya also develops feelings for Tandy's brother, Rush, who leads a civil rights group. Meanwhile, Sonya's mother goes into rehab, leaving Sonya with Madison's friend, Law, an ex-convict who is mentally challenged. He tries to force himself on her, and Sonya ends up stabbing him to death. As Sonya deals with the consequences of committing a murder and the reality of carrying Rush's unborn child, Tandy begins to figure out Sonya's true identity.

Adolescent readers will become enthralled with plot twists in this novel, part of a new series of African-American young adult fiction. This book is suitable for llth-12th graders due to a few sexually explicit scenes.

Anjeanette C. Alexander-Smith

Jacksonville, FL

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Summer 2007
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