Synopsis:
When dreadlocked and delinquent skater girl Kal’s rock star mom fails to come back to LA for a hearing, Kal finds herself living with the father she never knew, under a strict curfew–and enrolled in a magnet school for teens who aspire to careers in law enforcement.

Review:
Set in the meticulously and passionately described LA town of Venice Beach, Kalifornia Blu has attitude and the plot to back it up. Kal has always been a wild child, the daughter of an aging rock star who’s basically given up on being a mom, leaving Kal alone in a luxury apartment and tended by lawyers. When Kal is caught skateboarding at 3 a.m., the judge sentences her to an immediate transfer into a program for wannabe cops. She has to wear a junior police uniform and everything. Despite her desire to be anywhere else, she can’t help but get involved in the lives of her fellow students, and her unique talents may make her the only person who can really help her ex-gang member classmate before it’s too late. Kendell Shaffer writes the hell out of the story, giving Kal a voice that is funny, wise, foolish, tough, and vulnerable all at once.