What do you do if you're in trouble? When Michelle runs away from her drug-addicted mother, she has just enough money to make it to New York City, where she hopes to move in with a friend. But once she arrives at the bustling Port Authority, she is confronted with the terrifying truth: she is alone and out of options. Then she meets Devon, a good-looking, well-dressed guy who emerges from the crowd armed with a kind smile, a place for her to stay, and eyes that seem to understand exactly how she feels. But Devon is not what he seems to be, and soon Michelle finds herself engulfed in the world of child prostitution where he becomes her “Daddy” and she his “Little Peach.” It is a world of impossible choices, where the line between love and abuse, captor and savior, is blurred beyond recognition. This hauntingly vivid story illustrates the human spirit’s indomitable search for home, and one girl’s struggle to survive.
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Little Peach
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Genre(s)
Age Range
14+
Release Date
March 10, 2015
ISBN
9780062266958
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2 reviews
Raw and Real
Overall rating
5.0
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I did not enjoy this book. In fact, I’m not sure how anyone could given the subject matter, but it’s probably one of my favorites of the year. Little Peach is raw and unflinching story of how one girl finds herself knee deep in the world of child prostitution. The subject matter is a heavy one, and Kern does not hold back the reality of Michelle’s, AKA “Little Peach,” world. Little Peach is a 200 page powerful story that with knee your feels right where it counts, make you curl into a ball and cry.
Michelle grows up in a troubled home with her grandfather, her primary caregiver and protector. However, when he passes away, she loses all of that and is forced to find her own way. So she decides to go to New York in the hopes that she’ll be able to stay with a friend. When she arrives, her plan falls through and she realizes just how dire her situation is, and is picked up by a seemingly charming and helpful boy named Devon. Desperate, vulnerable with nowhere else to turn, Michelle accepts his help and is swept into a world of drug addiction and prostitution.
Devon, her “daddy,” establishes himself as a new provider and protector of Michelle and the other two girls who reside with him: Baby and Kat. With promises of love and a new family, Michelle accepts her lot in life and becomes “Little Peach,” believing this is the best that’s out there for her. When your mother is a drug addict who chooses her slimy boyfriend over you, there aren’t many options. Still, there are times when she regrets her new life, especially when she sees the mistreatment of the other girls and the horrors of her “family.” Then there are times when she fleetingly finds peace and happiness: When she, Baby and Kat are “off duty” and enjoying a fun day. You can tell she longs for a normal life, one any girl should have, but the realities of her life continue to creep back night after night in the form of getting high and hotel rooms. It’s a sharp contrast as she battles to hold onto her childhood during the day, while slipping on her adult personality every night along with the dresses Devon makes her wear.
Michelle’s voice is strong, broken and raw all at once as her narration flips between the story of how she became Devon’s Little Peach and chapters told from a hospital bed, wanting to reach out to the social worker assigned to her case. The former displays a voice of innocence lost as Michelle tells of her time not only with Devon, but also with her grandfather. While the latter feels sharper and harder, more distant and tougher thanks to many of the horrible things she’s encountered. It made me want to hug her and take all her pain away. Kern captures all of Michelle’s longing, desperation, hopelessness and sadness perfectly. She creates a voice that can’t be ignored or forgotten, one that begs us to for help and demands our attention, leaving the reader horrified, fascinated and disgusted all at once.
The worst part of Little Peach is that everything thing in the book is real. There are no happy endings, no easy answers or closures. This is real life. And that’s a hard pill to swallow to think that this is happening right now, even as you read this review. This book left me an angry, weeping mess and I know it won’t ever leave me.
Recommended for fans of Ellen Hopkins and Christa Desir’s Fault Line and Bleed Like Me.
**If you are interested in learning more about human trafficking and what you can do, National Human Trafficking Resource Center is a great place to start.
Michelle grows up in a troubled home with her grandfather, her primary caregiver and protector. However, when he passes away, she loses all of that and is forced to find her own way. So she decides to go to New York in the hopes that she’ll be able to stay with a friend. When she arrives, her plan falls through and she realizes just how dire her situation is, and is picked up by a seemingly charming and helpful boy named Devon. Desperate, vulnerable with nowhere else to turn, Michelle accepts his help and is swept into a world of drug addiction and prostitution.
Devon, her “daddy,” establishes himself as a new provider and protector of Michelle and the other two girls who reside with him: Baby and Kat. With promises of love and a new family, Michelle accepts her lot in life and becomes “Little Peach,” believing this is the best that’s out there for her. When your mother is a drug addict who chooses her slimy boyfriend over you, there aren’t many options. Still, there are times when she regrets her new life, especially when she sees the mistreatment of the other girls and the horrors of her “family.” Then there are times when she fleetingly finds peace and happiness: When she, Baby and Kat are “off duty” and enjoying a fun day. You can tell she longs for a normal life, one any girl should have, but the realities of her life continue to creep back night after night in the form of getting high and hotel rooms. It’s a sharp contrast as she battles to hold onto her childhood during the day, while slipping on her adult personality every night along with the dresses Devon makes her wear.
Michelle’s voice is strong, broken and raw all at once as her narration flips between the story of how she became Devon’s Little Peach and chapters told from a hospital bed, wanting to reach out to the social worker assigned to her case. The former displays a voice of innocence lost as Michelle tells of her time not only with Devon, but also with her grandfather. While the latter feels sharper and harder, more distant and tougher thanks to many of the horrible things she’s encountered. It made me want to hug her and take all her pain away. Kern captures all of Michelle’s longing, desperation, hopelessness and sadness perfectly. She creates a voice that can’t be ignored or forgotten, one that begs us to for help and demands our attention, leaving the reader horrified, fascinated and disgusted all at once.
The worst part of Little Peach is that everything thing in the book is real. There are no happy endings, no easy answers or closures. This is real life. And that’s a hard pill to swallow to think that this is happening right now, even as you read this review. This book left me an angry, weeping mess and I know it won’t ever leave me.
Recommended for fans of Ellen Hopkins and Christa Desir’s Fault Line and Bleed Like Me.
**If you are interested in learning more about human trafficking and what you can do, National Human Trafficking Resource Center is a great place to start.
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Fast and emotional look at a teen's homelessness and descent into being pimped out.
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3.5
I wanted to read Little Peach because topics like sex trafficking really speaks to me. Women and girls who are taking advantage of are such important topic and fiction like this, with powerful writing and hard-hitting emotions showing how its possible to end up in such a compromising situation.
I felt for Michelle, but I didn't connect with her as much as I wanted to. It was a fast moving, shorter read. The author used flashbacks to tell the story, going to her childhood to show her connection to her grandpa, and the dysfunction surrounding her mom. In her present, she is in the hospital after being beaten up. There is the lady she is addressing, who seems to be in her corner the most. The cops are short with her as well as the nurse because they are weary and see so many girls who sell their bodies come through that they don't always seem to stop and realize that there is a damaged little girl forced into this lifestyle.
Devon creates a home that seems welcoming, and he helps her when she shows up in NYC and has no one else. She is exhausted, starved, and wearing her grandpa's tshirt too big for her. He fed her, gave her a bed, took her shopping for clothes, and she felt taken care of for the first time in a while. There are two girls that live with them, Baby and Kat. Baby still has an innocence to her, and my heart went out to her. Kat tried to help Peach aka Michelle learn the ropes no matter how unpleasant.
Baby was twelve years old, but a lot of her actions were like she was still a preschooler. She sucked her thumb, watched the same movies over and over. But then there were times when she was older than her years. She slept too much, and she was able to shut herself from reality when she was doing tricks.
Michelle finally got a lot of courage, but it took a lot to open her eyes to the reality and brutality of working for a gang member pimp. She was beaten, in a lot of pain, and had to see so much that someone her age shouldn't have it.
I liked that it showed some hope for her moving forward but also the reality that after going through something like that, certain things will always be darker. As a teen still, she knew that having no family and leaving would put her in the foster system, a group home, and those of course are notorious for abuse and neglect.
Bottom Line: Fast and emotional look at a teen's homelessness and descent into being pimped out.
I wanted to read Little Peach because topics like sex trafficking really speaks to me. Women and girls who are taking advantage of are such important topic and fiction like this, with powerful writing and hard-hitting emotions showing how its possible to end up in such a compromising situation.
I felt for Michelle, but I didn't connect with her as much as I wanted to. It was a fast moving, shorter read. The author used flashbacks to tell the story, going to her childhood to show her connection to her grandpa, and the dysfunction surrounding her mom. In her present, she is in the hospital after being beaten up. There is the lady she is addressing, who seems to be in her corner the most. The cops are short with her as well as the nurse because they are weary and see so many girls who sell their bodies come through that they don't always seem to stop and realize that there is a damaged little girl forced into this lifestyle.
Devon creates a home that seems welcoming, and he helps her when she shows up in NYC and has no one else. She is exhausted, starved, and wearing her grandpa's tshirt too big for her. He fed her, gave her a bed, took her shopping for clothes, and she felt taken care of for the first time in a while. There are two girls that live with them, Baby and Kat. Baby still has an innocence to her, and my heart went out to her. Kat tried to help Peach aka Michelle learn the ropes no matter how unpleasant.
Baby was twelve years old, but a lot of her actions were like she was still a preschooler. She sucked her thumb, watched the same movies over and over. But then there were times when she was older than her years. She slept too much, and she was able to shut herself from reality when she was doing tricks.
Michelle finally got a lot of courage, but it took a lot to open her eyes to the reality and brutality of working for a gang member pimp. She was beaten, in a lot of pain, and had to see so much that someone her age shouldn't have it.
I liked that it showed some hope for her moving forward but also the reality that after going through something like that, certain things will always be darker. As a teen still, she knew that having no family and leaving would put her in the foster system, a group home, and those of course are notorious for abuse and neglect.
Bottom Line: Fast and emotional look at a teen's homelessness and descent into being pimped out.
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