Book excerpt: An ALA Best Book for Young Adults 2001 Shayla Dubois lives in a Houston neighborhood known as the Bottom, where life is colorful but never easy. She wants only two things out of life: to become a writer and to have a nice, peaceful home. Instead, her life has been turned upside down. Shayla's mama kicked her sister, Tia, out of the house for messing around with an older guy. And Shayla's father has been spending a lot of time at the house with mama. And there's her strange new neighbor, Kambia Elaine, who tells the most fantastic stories. Then Shayla begins to suspect that something is wrong. This title is an Accelerated Reader® Title