I found this, strangely enough, when I was researching ways to format text messages in a book. (If you’re stressing about that, btw, this book does it seamlessly.)
In the process of looking at the formatting, I got hooked on the story. Then I had to read the whole thing.
Find Layla chronicles a few days (maybe as much as two weeks) in the life of a brilliant teen who is raising herself and her younger brother in squalor as her mother struggles with drug addiction and possibly mental illness.
This book is a beautiful portrayal of the survival skills and savvy–as well as the trust issues–of a kid living the way kids should never have to live. I like the way Layla and those around her are shown with full nuance. Like real people, they’re not all good or all evil, but a mixture of both. And some of the most painful hurts Layla receives come not from active aggression towards her (though there’s that), but from the ignorance of people who care about her or who mean well.
This strikes me as very real. Almost too real. It’s hard to help teens who have been forced to survive on their own for far too long. This book at least helps people understand them.
