The Unforgiven

November 1, 2011

Gr 6 Up-It's been three years since Naomi Martinez, a junior at Cesar Chavez High School, saw her oldest brothers. Her father, Felix, disowned them when Orlando interceded to prevent him from hitting their mother. Now Naomi and her mother speak to Orlando and Manny in secret while her father and other brother, Zack, continue their estrangement. Turning 50 is depressing Felix, and it doesn't help matters that his cousin, Monte Esposito, is a murder suspect who recently lost his seat on the city council. Amid all this drama, Naomi juggles school, her relationship with Ernesto Sandoval, her new job at Chill Out, and her ex-boyfriend's attempts at winning her back after giving her a black eye. Naomi helps clear her uncle and another innocent man and then plans a successful birthday party for her father that involves reuniting the family. Schraff delicately addresses abuse and its consequences in a way that is not overly didactic but fails to ease up on the moral lessons throughout the book. Discerning readers will find the dialogue to be inauthentic with teens using words like "crook," "wimp," and "bum," as well as other words that left teen slang long ago. The plot is exciting enough, but the only readers likely to stick with this hi/lo title are those already invested in Schraff's "Urban Underground" series.-Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.