Korman, G: Juvie Three

Terence Florian ran with the worst gang in Chicago.

Arjay Moran killed someone.

All three boys are serving time in juvenile detention centers until they get a second chance. Douglas Healy, a former juvenile delinquent himself, is running an experimental halfway house in New York City, where he wants to make a difference in the lives of kids like Gecko, Terence, and Arjay.

Things are going well until one night Healy is accidentally knocked unconscious while trying to break up a scuffle among the boys. Terrified of the consequences, they drop him off at a hospital and run away. When Healy wakes up, he has no memory of them or the halfway house. Afraid of being sent back to Juvie, the guys hatch a crazy scheme to continue on as if the group leader never left.

But if the boys are discovered, their second chance will be their last. . . .

An ALSCA Notable Book, 2009
* "[T]hese kids are living minute to minute, where one false step may haunt them forever. . . . [B]e prepared for high demand."

-Booklist, starred review
"This novel is signature Korman."
-School Library Journal