Authors of Trinitoga Connect to Young Reader in Prison

Our authors write for the same reasons all authors write: to express themselves, to explore and imagine, and ultimately, to connect to others through their words on the page. Writing and reading helps us all feel less alone.

So we were gratified and thrilled by a reaction we got recently from a reader who needs that connection and community right now very much. Through our partners at Free Minds Book Club, we’ve sent several Shout Mouse books to young people who are incarcerated, which is how L, a twenty-year-old from Baltimore, got to read Trinitoga.  After reading, she wrote to the Trinitoga authors, saying that she related to their book, and she hoped they would keep writing. She talked about the importance of writing in her own life:

“Each and every day is rough waking up in a cold cell wishing you were home. In order for me to get through my days here I work, go to school and work on getting my GED. I write poetry about anything and every day.”

She also added that she wanted to read more books by teen authors. “If you have any more books for me to read,” she writes, “please do send them my way, I do like to read.”

L also sent some poems that she had written over the course of her now three year incarceration. Here’s one that really moved us that she wrote at age 17:

Cruel World

This is a cruel world

Dealing with so much at such a young age

Some kids graduating college

Me I’m sitting in a jail all trynna better myself

I made a mistake in trusting too many people

The people who I can trust is my family to the end

Most people doing anything to Rep the Hood

Me I’m just trynna go home and never come back

This ain’t the life I want, but it’s the life I have

This shit is all about to change

Too many emotions going on in my head

I got a hole in my heart it once was filled with love

Now it’s filled with anger and regret

Two Trinitoga authors, Temil and Jonae, wanted to write back to L, to thank her and offer encouragement. Here’s Temil’s note:

Dear L,

    Thanks for the letter you sent about our book. I really appreciate it. The poems that you wrote to us touched me, because it shows that you are a good person going through a rough stage in your early life. I really hope that everything changes for you, for the better. Again thank you, and I wish you the best. Stay tuned for our next book, The Day Tajon Got Shot. We’ll be sure to send it your way! Thanks :-)

Sincerely, Temil

We’re humbled and moved that our authors can serve as this kind of lifeline for those who need it most. Says L, “Thank you for believing in me. It’s nice to know that someone truly cares about me. I try to keep my head up no matter what.”

We care, L, and we’ll keep writing, to you and for you. And we hope that you keep writing, too.

Letter and poems from reader L and Shout Mouse author responses.