Keesha's House

Author: Helen Frost
Original Date of Publication: 2003

Main Characters
Keesha: A girl who ran away from home when her mom died and when her dad started drinking a lot and becoming abusive. She found a home with a blue door that she tells other kids to go to when they need a place to stay.
Joe: Owner of the house with the blue door.
Stephie: Young girl who gets pregnant.
Jason: Boyfriend of Stephie.
Dontay: Young boy who gets placed in foster homes due to his parents being in jail.
Carmen: Girl who lives with her grandmother and gets arrested for a DUI when driving Dontay home.
Harris: Guy who is gay and ends up getting kicked out of his house.
Katie: Mom remarried a man who provided a home for them however, the man was sexually abusive toward Katie causing her to go to Keesha's house.
Tobias: Brother of Keesha.

Setting
The stories of the lives in Keesha’s House takes place in a rural or urban area.  The ambiguity allows for a wide range of readers to step into the city or town, and take in the story.  As the children try to find their way, Keesha’s house is what they use or go to. 

The children are in high school, and there is not a reference to a certain time period, except we know it has to have taken place sometime after child welfare was established. This element is evidence for the good literature in this book.The themes in the book, like teen pregnancy, sexual harassment, and drug abuse are classic issues. And the lack of a time period indicates that for these classic young adult issues, young adult readers will still be able to be drawn into the book’s story and will be able to relate to its characters in years to come.

The poetic forms used to write the book are sestina and sonnet. While the sonnets might be easier to detect, sestinas are the majority of the book. Sestinas are used for the main characters and sonnets for the adults, except in part eight of the book. From the title of each poem, that together forms a broad poem for each part, to the sonnets in part eight that are connected by the words of the last line of the preceding poem to the first line of the succeeding poem, the constant and linked structure of the book gives a sense of the connection the characters share and works well to depict their unstable lives.

Themes, Symbolism, and Recurring Patterns
There are many recurring patterns in Keesha's House that point to various themes and symbolism.  Some of the themes include:  personal growth, harassment and abuse, lack of a stable family or family support, teen pregnancy, and drug and alcohol use. 

Majority of the characters go through a growth process throughout the book.  For example, Jason learns what is more important in his life; Dontay realizes that maybe living with his foster parents isn't so bad after all; and Carmen understands that she has a problem that is way worse than she had originally thought. 

Harassment and abuse is another theme that is shown throughout the book.  Harris faces harassment when he finds a threatening note about his sexuality in his locker.  Katie encounters sexual abuse from her mother's new husband.

The theme of there being a lack of a stable family or a lack of family support is another theme that is involved in this book.  Keesha's father is an alcoholic, making him unsafe to be around.  Both of Dontay's parents are in jail, forcing him to live with foster parents.  Carmen lives with her grandmother because her mother chose not to be in her life.  Harris lacks the support from his father because of his sexuality.  Katie's mother refuses to listen to Katie when she tries to explain why it's unsafe for her to live at home.

Stephie and Jason both face the theme of teen pregnancy.  Stephie feels like she has no one to talk to and that no one will understand what she's going through; while her boyfriend, Jason, struggles to figure out how to balance a pregnancy and his promising future of basketball at the same time.

Drug and alcohol use are seen throughout the book.  Dontay is pressured by one his friends to sell drugs, while Keesha tries to convince her younger brother Tobias that selling drugs is a bad idea.  Both, Carmen and Keesha, deal with the effects of alcohol use.  Carmen has an alcohol problem that always seems to get her into trouble.  Keesha, on the other hand, faces the effects of alcoholism due to the fact that her father is an alcoholic.

The poetic forms used to write the book are sestina and sonnet. While the sonnets might be easier to detect, sestinas are the majority of the book. Sestinas are used for the main characters and sonnets for the adults, except in part eight of the book. From the title of each poem, that together forms a broad poem for each part, to the sonnets in part eight that are connected by the words of the last line of the preceding poem to the first line of the succeeding poem, the constant and linked structure of the book gives a sense of the connection the characters share and works well to depict their unstable lives.

Questions and Issues
Keesha's House addresses many different issues that young adults may experience in their high school years or beyond.  The main issue behind these young men and women coming together is their problems at home.  Helen Frost does a wonderful job of touching on real life subjects that effect young adults today, including drugs, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, foster homes, and sexual assault.  There are a number of characters in the book that struggle to get out of the "drug scene" and are trying to clean up their lives.  One young woman actually faces jail time because of her bad behavior.  Another character in the book, Harris, is actually kicked out of his house by his father because of his homosexuality.  Teen pregnancy is approached in the book right from the beginning when we find out about Stephanie's pregnany.  Frost shows how Stephanie struggles with her emotions towards the pregnancy throughout the book.  Another teen in Keesha's House is sexually assaulted by her stepfather, which leads her astray from her mother and their home together.  14-year-old Dontay runs away from his intolerable foster home to find a better life for himself.  Watch as these memorable characters deal with their individual struggles and come together in a place called Keesha's House.