5 stars “I stayed up all night”

This book is a wonderful collection of fictional stories based upon the author's experience living and working in a low income area of Toronto. The book focuses on multiple children and families' experience dealing with inequity and poverty. Although this book is not for the faint of heart I think it is a wonderful read and can help to start a conversation about the negative impacts of poverty in Canada, abuse, lack of education, health problems, mental health issues, etc. and what we as a community can do to alleviate this. 

Scarborough is a raw and unfiltered look into the personal effects of poverty. You will find yourself invested and attached to some characters in this book and will want to punch others.  The book is very well written and the characters are believable and well developed.

If you read and enjoyed this book I would recommend The Nickel Boys  by Colson Whitehead. This book is also a fictional story focused on teenagers facing inequity, poverty and abuse.