Straight Punch

Polak, Monique. Straight Punch. 2014. 256p. FIC POL on the library shelves.

Tessa loves to tag buildings with her brand of graffiti art, but when she gets caught for the third time tagging the principal’s garage, she gets assigned to New Directions, a school in Montreal North for at-risk teens. Mornings are dedicated to academic work, but in the afternoon students train as boxers and play bouts against each other.

Tessa, who has always been afraid of violence and bullies, is intimidated at first by the other students but she slowly learns their stories and how they ended up there. With her controlling and jealous boyfriend, and a incensed neighbor trying to close what she perceives is a school for delinquents, Tessa must step in a leadership role to save the school, and herself.

Monique Polak wrote another compelling story called What World is Left about a Dutch Jew girl during Second World War.