Throwaway: YA Novel in Verse

by Sheryl Recinos

When Margo's parents kick her out, she has nowhere to go. She ends up on the streets, trying to figure out how to survive. Where will she stay? Will she finish high school? Most importantly, will she figure out how to live her life authentically?

Throwaway is a fictional story written in verse.

87 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 4, 2023

About the author

Physician by day. Also, author by day. Coffee drinker all the time.

https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/05/...

Reviews

[Courtnee Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throwaway is a set of poems by Sheryl Recinos. Becoming part of the unhoused children's community, Margo tells her story in poetic form. Turned away by her parents because she's gay, sixteen-year-old Margo fights for herself on the streets, picking up lessons she never learned in school. Once she decides to go to a shelter, she's offered choices, but she's unsure about the right decision. Without parents to guide her, Margo hopes her selections lead to a better life than her previous one as she learns to say "yes" to life-changing options. The story is told in first person with free-form verses, and readers discover the difficulties facing a displaced teen.

Even though she was not ejected from her home for the same reasons as Margo, Sheryl Recinos was a teen without housing, and she understands the pain of getting "thrown away" by parents who are meant to protect their children. One poem fed into the next, telling a continuous story of hardship and resilience. Readers learn tidbits of Margo's appearance or backstory from each poem, revealing her situation as it unfolds and uncovering pieces of the trauma that led to her circumstances. Recinos's work notes the roadblocks that keep some people without shelter and relate heartbreaking lines, like when Margo states she is "living in a world that won't protect " her. Throwaway includes a set of book club questions and reading it with a group would be a good way to open up discussions about unsheltered youth in your area.

[Lisa Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers meet Margo when she has been out on the streets for six months. She has been on the streets and in a shelter, but now she has decided to ask "the system" for help. The author herself was also a homeless teen that had been kicked out of her home. This book is fiction, but it is also TRUE.

It is a novel in verse, so it is very readable. Margo was thrown out of her home because she came out to her parents, and they could not accept her because she is gay.

I would recommend this book to any mature reader. If they are in this situation, they can find hope in this book. If they are not in this situation, we can HOPE that they have compassion for those who are.