Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

When cute little Trina innocently cuts through the middle of a group of girls in the hallway, she incites the anger of a girl named Dominique. Dominique’s anger and frustration come from many different sources, like the fact that a bad math grade has her benched during basketball season, but Trina’s slight puts her over the top — and she decides to “jump” Trina for such a display of disrespect. An onlooker, Leticia, doesn’t think much of the declaration, though one of her friends thinks that Leticia should probably warn Trina before school lets out for the day. The story alternates between the viewpoints of the three girls, and it’s easy to see how Trina was completely unaware while Dominique was stewing all day long.  Needless to say, Trina ends up jumped, and Leticia seems to regret her decision to stay silent. [ I'm not worried about this review being a "spoiler," by the way, because the title kinda gives it away.]

Side note: Many experts claim that girl-on-girl aggression is not really on the rise, but the increased exposure of such violence certainly gives that impression. Regardless of the actual numbers of fights and such, I think this story is an excellent reminder to people of all ages that violence is not a good means by which to solve problems…

Happy Reading!