Lockdown

By Walter Dean Myers

Background

Life with an abusive father and drugged-out mother was never easy, but now that 14-year-old Reese has been locked up in juvenile jail, all he wants is to return home. He especially misses his younger sister and yearns for his freedom so he can help take care of her again. He’s got a long way to go, though, to serve his sentence for stealing prescription pads that eventually led to a giant drug bust in his neighborhood, Harlem. Making a hard sentence even tougher is Reese’s seeming inability to avoid fighting—how can he not throw a punch when his mere survival in juvie depends on being tough?