The Knife and the Butterfly

Title: The Knife and the Butterfly 

Author: Ashley Hope Pérez

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab (2012)

Genre(s): Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Mystery, Crime

Length: 204 pages

Synopsis:  Azael knows he's fallen in with bad company, but the MS-13 gang is as close as he gets to a real family.  His aunts and uncles have written him off, his dad's been deported and his mother's dead.  Now it's just Azael and his brother and the boys of MS-13.  Azael's girlfriend Becca wants him to clean up his act, and he agrees.  Time to turn over a new leaf.  When the gang heads out to deal with some members of the Crazy Crew gang, Azael figures once more can't hurt, right?  But when he wakes up after the fight in lock-up, his troubles have only just begun. 

My Rating: 5 Stars

My Opinion: This was a quick read, though not one I would usually have picked up.  I've been working through a stack of young adult high-interest reads to build a database of reviews for a classroom library.  I stacked them up, promised to read them in order, and away I went.  This one was next, so I zipped through it.  It's gritty and sour, and though I don't know a thing about Salvadoran gangs and my Spanish is rudimentary, it feels real.  I understand where these characters are coming from, even if I can't imagine myself in their shoes.  There's beauty and gentleness in their lives too, whether it's in the sketches Azael draws in his black notebook, or in the love these kids have for friends, family, and even pets.  I think this is a group of people and characters whose stories aren't often told, and that Pérez has done so with compassion and truth.  This story is a sad one, full of knives, but even in that sharp, ugly, dangerous world, there are butterflies.