Losers Bracket

Annie has grown up with violence in her home, which is why she was removed fom her "bio" family. She was duct-taped to a toilet seat as a kid, lived with sex offenders (and was possibly abused by them), was grabbed, punched, kicked, and hit by family members. She also acts out violently on the basketball court, punching a girl in the neck. A small child has been beaten badly by a man. An attempted murder-suicide takes place.

Annie mentions having fooled around with boys, but it's not described. Her mom tells her to use her body to attract boys. Mentions of masturbation. Annie says she hears her sister is "a good athlete in bed."

Heavy use of strong language includes "f--k," "f--k you," "s--t," "bitch," "whore," "bulls--t," "ass," "a--hole," and combinations of these.

Annie comes from a family of alcoholics, drug addicts. Her sister uses meth, and Annie can identify the symptoms (skittish behavior, weight loss, bad teeth); her mom abuses pills. Annie bounces in and out of foster care according to her mother's addiction -- Nancy's often high or trying to get clean. Her sister, Sheila, carries on the same pattern with her son. Annie's mom and sister both go through rehab unsuccessfully. A character smokes a joint.

Parents need to know that Chris Crutcher's The Losers Bracket deals with tough topics like addiction, adoption, poverty, suicide, and kidnapping head-on. Annie Boots is a foster kid getting pressure from her foster dad to cut off all contact with her biological family, which she subverts in heart-melting and sometimes funny ways. The social welfare system is examined from the inside out. Child Protective Services has been called many times on Annie's mom and sister, and Annie is on a first-name basis with her caseworker. There are tales of child abuse and conflicts between family members that are pockmarked with expletives (including "f--k" and "s--t") and assault: She was duct-taped to a toilet seat as a kid, lived with sex offenders (and was possibly abused by them), and was grabbed, punched, kicked, and hit by family members. A small boy is badly beaten by his mom's boyfriend. Annie acts out violently on the basketball court, punching a girl in the neck. An attempted murder-suicide takes place. Though Annie's wit is as sharp as a tack, her world is not for the faint of heart. Crutcher's background as a family therapist in a mental health center has clearly informed this gritty book.