Don't Breathe a Word

by Holly Cupala

[Joni Reads]

This may sound odd but the idea of being homeless fascinated me as a child. I thought it would not be cool but be like an adventure. Being a scavenger, turning trash into treasure. Of course that was before I realized that it would be cold and lonely and dangerous but I was like six at the time and didn't connect the dots. But reading this book took me back to when I thought the idea sounded like an adventure.



In the Afterword of this novel Holly Cupala says that she was told that at some point every homeless teen decides that being on the street is safer than being home. That sums up this novel perfectly.



Joy has severe asthma and her parents insist she be constantly "protected", first by her older brother and then when he goes to college by her boyfriend Asher, who she met at a fundraiser at the local zoo.



At first things were ok with Asher but then he started to become verbally abusive towards her. The situation was made even worse when Joy's father was laid off and Asher had his father give Joy's father a job with his company. Asher constantly told Joy "you owe me", threatening to take away her father's job if she didn't do everything he asked her to do.



When Joy goes on a day trip to see her brother without telling Asher the abuse become physical and Joy sees no other way out than staging her own kidnapping and running away to the Capitol Hill district of Seattle where the homeless teen population is large and where a boy once offered his help after seeing Asher publically degrading Joy at a nightclub.



So Joy runs to the city and encounter Creed, the mysterious boy who offered her his help. She also finds May, a girl has lived her life on the streets and has a wall up that she won't let anyone behind, and Santos, a short boy with a lot of heart and a pet ferret that he keeps in shirt at all times. This groups of teens squats in a condemned house, scavenges for food in dumpsters behind restaurants, they turn tricks, play music on the sidewalk, steal from markets, they do whatever it takes to survive.



But Joy is different. Her parent's are looking for her and she will have to make choice between her street family and her real family and finally come to terms with the abuse she suffered at Asher's hands.



This novel was so powerful and haunting. I'm almost speechless as I write this. The reality of this book is jarring, that so many teens are living the contents of this book right now, at this minute. I couldn't even begin to imagine living on the streets. Especially in Seattle where it rains more often than not. It's a terrifying thought and one that is always in the back of your mind as you read Joy's story.

This book is in a word: excellant. I think it should be recommended reading in high school English. It would open up so much discussion and while some of the language and situations are for a mature audience, I think all teens age 16 and up should read this.