The Knife and the Butterfly
The Knife and the Butterfly
The Knife and the Butterfly
Ashley Hope Perez
After a marijuana-addled brawl with a rival gang, 16-year-old Azael wakes up to find himself surrounded by a familiar set of concrete walls and a locked door. Juvie again, he thinks. But he can't really remember what happened or how he got picked up. He knows his MS13 boys faced off with some punks from Crazy Crew. There were bats, bricks, chains. A knife. But he can't remember anything between that moment and when he woke behind bars. Azael knows prison, and something isn't right about this lockup. No phone call. No lawyer. No news about his brother or his homies. The only thing they make him do is watch some white girl in some cell. Watch her and try to remember. Lexi Allen would love to forget the brawl, would love for it to disappear back into the Xanax fog it came from. And her mother and her lawyer hope she chooses not to remember too much about the brawl--at least when it's time to testify. Lexi knows there's more at stake in her trial than her life alone, though. She's connected to him, and he needs the truth. The knife cut, but somehow it also connected.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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CDi

After a huge gang fight between Azael's MS-13, and a rival gang, 16-year-old Azael wakes up to a familiar sight- -juvie. Or is it? No lawyer, no phone call, and no news about his brother. The only thing they make him do is watch some white girl he doesn't know and remember what happened. Lexi Allen has no trouble remembering the fight, but her family and lawyers would love it if she could choose to forget it once it's time to testify. She may be the key to Azael's understanding of what happened.

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