Life Is Fine

by Allison Whittenberg

  About the Author

  A Philadelphia native and a Virgo,

  Allison Whittenberg studied dance for years

  before switching her focus to writing. She has

  an MA in English from the University of

  Wisconsin and enjoys traveling to places like

  the Caribbean and Russia. Her first novel,

  Sweet Thang, is available from Yearling Books.

  Published by Delacorte Press

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

  a division of Random House, Inc.

  New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2007 by Allison Whittenberg

  All rights reserved.

  Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/teens

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Whittenberg, Allison.

  Life is fine / by Allison Whittenberg.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: With a neglectful mother who has an abusive, live-in boyfriend, life for fifteen-year-old Samara is not fine, but when a substitute teacher walks into class one day and introduces her to poetry, she starts to view life from a different perspective.

  [1. Child abuse—Fiction. 2. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 4. African Americans—Fiction. 5. Philadelphia (Pa.)—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.W6179Li2008

  [fic]—dc22

  2007027604

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-84649-6

  v3.0