Butterfly

by Sylvester Stephens

A young girl fights to overcome her past after escaping rape, bullying, and prostitution. Shante Clemmons—also known as Butterfly—is a mature-looking, fifteen-year-old foster home reject, who is tossed into the street in the middle of the night after being falsely accused of sleeping with her foster care father. She falls asleep behind a well-lit club only to be awakened by a huge intimidating man who offers her a job as a dancer. Butterfly becomes the most popular dancer in the club until she decides that she is ready to focus on her education. The upset owner of the club demands she pays up on an old debt or suffer the consequences. It ends in a physical altercation, and Butterfly flees for her life. As fate would have it, she ends up in the care of her estranged father’s ex-prison cellmate, Dr. Johnny Forrester, who takes Butterfly under his roof to fulfill a promise he made to her father. With much dismay, Butterfly moves into the Forresters’ home. Despite her many obstacles, she is determined to survive her senior year of high school and then go to college—but will she be able to overcome her obstacles and reach her goals?

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2013

Reviews

[OOSA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too Much

With a father in prison and a mother who abandoned her as a baby, Shante Clemmons ‘aka’ Butterfly is in the foster care system. The fifteen-year-old is kicked out in the middle of the night from her foster home. Her foster mother accused her of sleeping with her husband. With nowhere to go, Butterfly seeks shelter for the night behind the local strip club. When the bouncer notices her and takes a good look at her, he knows she would be a money maker for the club. Butterfly lies about her age and thus starts stripping for money. The only person Butterfly confides in is another one of the girls, who is a bit older than she is. She in turn convinces Butterfly to leave the club alone and go back to school to get an education and make something of herself. The only problem is the owner of the club isn’t ready to let the star of his club go so easily.

Butterfly eventually finds herself with her father’s wealthy friend, Dr. Forrester. Butterfly makes the decision to live with him and his family to give her a chance to reconnect with her father. This is where Butterfly learns the true meaning of family. Determined to make everyone proud of her, even her father, she makes a promise to get good grades and go on to college. Wanting to bring closure to a particular part of her life, she wants to know about her mother. The question is, when the truth comes out, will she be able to handle it?

“Butterfly” by Sylvester Stephens was a story that had way too much going on. The story touched upon so many topics it was unreal. Everything from teen stripping, abortion, a teacher having sex with a minor, a father having sex with his daughter, murder, bullying, teen suicide, drugs and prostitution was included. While reading this book the question kept crossing my mind - what was the reason that Butterfly’s father was in prison for so long? All throughout the story Butterfly’s father kept telling her he took her away from her mother and that’s all she needed to know. By the end of the story it is finally revealed but it just did not make any logical sense whatsoever. There was a scene where something bad happened. It not only involved her but someone else and the other person was never mentioned. Then there was a scene that I would have liked to have known what happened after a tragedy. There were gaps within the story and a few minor editing issues in the final print of the book. There was just entirely too much happening within this story to make it recommendable.

Reviewed by: LeonaR

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this book was a little juvenile in the content yet adult in nature. I sometimes felt like it was jumbled into a novel and I found myself thinking a lot of the storyline was a little far-fetched. I really did like the ending but along the way too much was going on and I felt some parts could've been left out. Overall it was just okay.

[Pam Asberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistically told from the viewpoint of Shante--street slang and all--this is a powerful story. Through no fault of her own, Shante (nicknamed Butterfly) is alone in the world and, after fifteen years of being hurt by those she loves most and taken advantage of by those charged with her care, she is finding it difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. Her luck begins to change when Dr. Johnny Forrester and his wife agree to take her in as a foster child and raise her as their own. They provide her with a comfortable home, the extended family she has always craved, and unconditional love. Still, Shante has a hard time reconciling her past on the streets of Atlanta with her new life as a high school student in the suburbs of Gwinnett County. Will she be able to overcome the habits and friendships that have kept her down and follow a different path, one that might even lead to college and real success in the future? Or will the temptations to revert to her old, familiar ways prove too enticing? Read this book and find out! It will keep you turning pages until the very end. Recommended!

[Semi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this book was more for a teenager. Wasn’t really filled with the type of drama that keeps you ready to turn the page. It was a decent read but doesn’t really make me want to read another book from the author.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Butterfly" is a nickname to the main character in this book. She is a young lady caught in the horrible reality of foster care. She meets up with people that just take advantage of her and doesn't care for her at all. Abuse, neglect that sums it up. She finally makes it out on her own and discovers that the world outside of foster care really isn't all that better, in fact seems worse. She is fifteen years old, out on the streets and needs to figure out how she is going to survive. She finds help in the form of a dancing pole and a lady that ends up saving her life. Butterfly leaves the business and ends up with another family, a family that shows her what it was that she has been missing for so long, family and love. When tragedy strikes her happiness with this new family, she meets someone that knows her father from jail and promises to look after her.
She goes with this new family and makes it her own. Finally her dreams are coming true. She meets people that she will have a never ending bond with and finds out that family doesn't have to be of blood, family is made up of so many people that love you. Families are made. From this point on she experiences loves and losses. Butterfly triumphs in life's ways and comes across some secrets from the past that come into the light. How she handles this speaks highly of this young lady.
My heart went out to this character, I thought about how this may be fiction but this happens to far too many young people in their life. America is quick to help the plights of outside of this nation but turns a blind eye to the horrors that attack our people on our own soil. Too many children suffer from abuse, hunger, no education, homelessness. When will we care enough to really end this? I believe America could if they really wanted to come up with a plan. Hell, we seem to come up with plenty of money and ideas to help other nations, why not ours, why don't we matter?
" I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside, give them a sense of pride...." and so it goes on. But we don't really pay attention to the message that was in this song. We don't really pay attention to anything that matters.

[Susan L · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book ''Butterfly'' is about a young girl named Shante Clemmon. She lived a terrible life and encounter several obstacle in life such as being bullied in school, abandoned in the middle of the night after being caught sleeping with her foster father, and being raped. I felt bad for her because why does she have to suffer through this much stuff? All she wanted was a happy life, is it that hard for her to obtain that small wish.At the same time, i think that she is a strong and brave person. Although she had gone through that much in life, she still overcame the problems. Later on, she became a great dancer of the club but then was fired for certain reasons. Despite all these obstacle, she still look forward to her education and plan on going to college.
Overall i think that this was a great book and would recommend this to young adult. it is pretty entertaining to read during your free time, it can motivate you to forget about all the worries you have and live your life.

[Karen]

Excellent book! Shante “Butterfly” had to learn how to survive. Shante was put out of a foster home by the mom to get away from the dad. She meets a guy that gave her a job as a dancer. Shante was underage dancing in a club. She meets up with Sparkle a dancer at the club who saved her life. Butterfly was able to move in with Pastor and his wife. After the passing of Pastor, Dr. Forrester and his wife took Butterfly in. Butterfly life changed while living with the Forrester’s. Butterfly went through a great deal of things; death of two friends, finding out the identity of her biological mother, but she was a strong young woman.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. It was so much more than I thought it would be. Butterfly had such a good head on her shoulders and truly cared about the people around her. This was the first book I have read from Sylvester Stephens but definitely won't be the last. I would highly recommend this book.

[Sheryl Boyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The storyline was interesting and held my attention from beginning to end. Look forward to reading other books by this author.