GIRLS LIKE HER

A ripped-from-the-headlines story shines a light on children who are tried as adults.

On January 7, 2022, millionaire Eric Hanson was murdered. Within hours, 14-year-old Ruby Monroe was arrested for the crime. So begins Ruby’s story, which alternates between narrative chapters, court transcripts, newspaper articles, and letters. Ruby spends months in Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center, but when the judge grants the prosecutor’s request to have her case transferred to adult court, she’s moved to the women’s jail. Ruby’s previous distrust of her public defender and the social worker brought in to help build her defense has stymied their efforts to prevent the transfer. But now, with a July 2023 court date looming, Ruby slowly opens up to the social worker about earlier events in her life. As the layers are peeled away, it becomes clear that the story involves more than a simple robbery that went awry and resulted in a shooting. The events leading up to Ruby’s arrest and the depiction of her time in jail are jarring and graphic. Much of the story reads like true crime, although Ruby’s letters to her friend Maya feel more like a device to fill gaps in the storyline than an authentic teen voice. Main characters are cued white; Maya has brown skin.

An eye-opening depiction of the criminal justice system’s treatment of young, vulnerable citizens.