What Will Happen to Me?

"Sometimes when I'm alone, I sit there and look up and close my eyes and think, ‘If he were here, what would happen?‘ I would have had my full life. It's just half now." These sobering words from teenager Cassandra are typical of the devastating accounts included in Zehr and Amstutz's portraits of American children who have at least one incarcerated parent. Zehr's portraits are compassionate and ennobling and, though often cursory, the text from the children and caregivers is heartbreaking and thought-provoking; more complete portraits would have given a better understanding of the gravity of the situation facing these children, and the inclusion of more basic facts (the length of a parent's incarceration; the severity of a sentence) would have moved these subjects from victims to people. When specifics are given, as with a caregiver who notes that all she wants for her birthday is to "go out on the mountain for two hours by myself," the gravity of the situation becomes haunting. Photos. (June)