Purchase to Support Our Program

“An uncompromising look at two characters most readers would otherwise look away from.”

—Booklist

“An unflinching portrait with an ending that begs for another reading.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Azael is a dynamic and sympathetic main character with an authentic voice…. This hard-hitting novel [will be an] an assured success in libraries serving high school students.”

—School Library Journal

The Knife and the Butterfly

Written by Ashley Hope Pérez
Published by Carolrhoda Lab

After a marijuana-addled brawl with a rival gang, 16-year-old Azael wakes up to find himself surrounded by a familiar set of concrete walls and a locked door. Juvie again, he thinks. But he can’t really remember what happened or how he got picked up. He knows his MS13 boys faced off with some punks from Crazy Crew. There were bats, bricks, chains. A knife. But he can’t remember anything between that moment and when he woke behind bars.

Azael knows prison, and something isn’t right about this lockup. No phone call. No lawyer. No news about his brother or his homies. The only thing they make him do is watch some white girl in some cell. Watch her and try to remember.

Lexi Allen would love to forget the brawl, would love for it to disappear back into the Xanax fog it came from. And her mother and her lawyer hope she chooses not to remember too much about the brawl—at least when it’s time to testify.

Lexi knows there’s more at stake in her trial than her life alone, though. She’s connected to him, and he needs the truth. The knife cut, but somehow it also connected.

Primary ISBN: 9780761361565
Publication Date: January 2012
Available As: Paperback, eBook
Young Adult, Age 14 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (Houston TX)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Unknown Arrival

Click here for details about how we define our titles.

Engagement Projects & Resources:

Share your favorite resources for this book with info@imyourneighborbooks.org.