SOLVED. A coming of age book about two little girls who live near the projects. [s]

[Sarah]

I read this book a while ago. It's about a little girl who moves with her family to this gated community next to the poorer project area. The main character's father is a teacher at the school in the community. The main character makes friends with another little girl who is allowed to go to school in the community because her father is a Janitor there. The friend's mother lives in the projects with her pimp boyfriend. The main character is curious so she crosses the fence and starts hanging out at a shop managed by a very nice older woman. This older woman's boyfriend was abusive to her and he also tried to pimp her out. She left him but ended up pregnant with his baby. Her aunt (?) helped her give birth but told her that her baby had died. It turns out in the end that the mother of the main character's friend is actually the daughter of the older woman. I'm not sure but I think the same pimp is in a relationship with the friend's mother which would be really awful considering that he is actually her father. Anyway, when the main character's friend doesn't show up for school, she decides to go looking for her at her mother's run down apartment. She walks in on her friend being pimped out by the mother's boyfriend/father. The friend is so embarrased and ashamed that she runs out onto the ledge and jumps to her death. I feel bad for repeatedly saying the phrase "pimped out" but I really didn't know any other way to describe it. I understand this probably sounds uber confusing but if anyone has any ideas, it would be greatly appreciated!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Sounds like it might be Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven by Dawn Turner Trice, which I haven't read so I can't verify your details, but it is set in Chicago and a family moves from their poor neighborhood to a gated community next to the poor neighborhood. Someone else was also looking for this book, if it's the same one.

"In 1975, Tempestt Saville and her family are chosen by lottery to "move on up" to Lakeland: one square mile of sparkling apartment towers and emerald lawns where the Black elite live sheltered from the ghetto by a ten-foot-tall, ivy-covered wrought-iron fence. Eleven-year-old Temmy doesn't enjoy the privilege, however, and thinks Lakeland is the "kingdom of the drab." Instead, she is drawn to the vivid world outside the fence: to 35th Street, where the saved and the sinners are both so "done up" you can't tell one from the other. Tempestt's curiosity soon leads her down a dangerous path, however, and after witnessing the death of a friend, she sets into motion a chain of events that will send 35th Street up in flames."

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I sent a PM to Sarah as reinforcement for Lobstergirl's post. She was last active in May of this year, so we might or might not hear back from her.

[Sarah]

Wow, thanks so much! This is the book that I was thinking of. Now I can re-read it.