The Orange Houses

By Paul Griffin

Subjects: People with disabilities, Veterans, Juvenile Fiction, African americans, fiction, War, fiction, Handicapped, Africans, Mental illness, Interpersonal relations, Fiction, Illegal aliens, fiction, Children's fiction, Illegal aliens, People with disabilities, fiction, Juvenile fiction, Veterans, fiction, New york (n.y.), fiction, Interpersonal relations, fiction, Mental illness, fiction, Hearing impaired

Description: Meet Tamika Sykes - Mik to her friends (if she had any). She's hearing impaired and way too smart for her West Bronx high school. She copes by reading lips and selling homework answers, and looks forward to the time each day when she can be alone in her room drawing. She's a tough girl who never gets close to anyone, until she meets Fatima, a teenage refugee who sells newspapers on Mik's block. Both Mik and Fatima unite in their efforts to befriend Jimmi, a homeless vet who is shunned by the rest of the community. The events that follow when these three outcasts converge will break open their close-knit community and change the lives of those living in the Orange Houses in explosive and unexpected ways.