In Trinitoga: Stories of Life in a Roughed-Up, Tough-Love, No-Good Hood, a novel-in-stories by middle school authors in Washington, DC, the fictionalized neighborhood of Trinitoga is populated with an endearing and heartbreaking cast of characters, not unlike the people these authors have encountered in their own lives. We begin with "Shoota," the gun-wielding "King of the Hood" whose transformation we witness from a sweet and trusting 8-year-old boy to a hardened angry man deserving of his nickname. We meet the mother of his children, Baquisha, who cares about her kids and tells...