The White Horse

Grant (Mary Wolf; Phoenix Rising) turns out another top-rank problem novel as she unfolds a homeless teen's story via a multistranded narrative. Third-person accounts closely profile Raina as she and her drug-addict ""fiance"" scramble to find shelter each night; Raina writes bitingly eloquent stories of her childhood for her English teacher (staying in school is desperately important, Raina knows, although she can't say why); and that teacher, Peggy Johnson, privately saddened by the infertility that destroyed her marriage, delivers ironic, self-aware monologues. After the death (a possible suicide) of Raina's boyfriend and her belated acknowledgment of her own pregnancy, Raina reaches out to Peggy for help. Several painful intervals elapse before Peggy sets aside her barely voiced wish for a knight on a white horse to transform her life, and before Raina distances herself from the cruel abuses of a mother addicted to the ""white horse""--heroin. Grant carefully builds each character and balances their interactions, avoiding the sensationalism suggested by the story line. An understated and deeply poignant portrayal of a troubled teen. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)