Straight punch

By Monique Polak

Subjects: High school students, Juvenile fiction, Experimental schools, Fiction, Graffiti, Juvenile delinquency, Children's fiction, Boxing, fiction, Boxing, Alternative schools, Students, fiction, Montreal (quebec), fiction, Schools

Description: "How bad can an alternative school be? Tessa McPhail has landed at New Directions, a last-chance school in Montreal's roughest neighborhood. The kids are tough and the school is far from home, but the very worst thing is the curriculum: 50 percent academics, 50 percent boxing. The other students think boxing is cool. Tessa disagrees. But when a neighbor starts a petition to have New Directions closed down, Tessa discovers something worth fighting for, both in and out of the ring"-- When Tessa gets caught tagging, she is sent to an alternative school in one of Montreal's toughest neighborhoods, where boxing is a big part of the school curriculum.