Boys and Girls Screaming

March 15, 2022
Two friends create an informal support group that unearths more trauma than it heals. Candace was 5 when her mother left her alone in their Oakville, Ontario, apartment. It was two days before her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Heard, found her, took her home, and eventually adopted her. Candace was transported from a life of emotional and physical neglect to an environment of material affluence and love. After they met in first grade, she developed a deep bond with Ever, who became as close as a sister. This relationship is later tested when Ever's father dies, her mother has a stroke, and Candace's birth mother returns. The novel follows the two girls through the years to high school, when their inability to deal with their mental health issues on their own becomes the impetus for the creation of the group they call Boys and Girls Screaming; Candace and Ever invite students with a known history of trauma to participate. The story is told primarily in the voices of Candace and Jericho, Ever's younger brother, although Ever is a unifying character whose presence looms larger than life as she becomes the catalyst for major events in the story. Through this work, readers learn about the sticky nature of trauma. Some characters use drugs to self-medicate. Candace, Jericho, and Ever are Black; the Heards are White. A thought-provoking read about the pain involved in healing childhood trauma. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.