*SIGNED BOOKPLATE

2020 National Book Award Finalist!

Ada, the daughter of an immigrant father from Nigeria and an African-American mother, feels caught in the middle of her own family. Her dad expects a lot of her while her mother, suffering from addiction, moves in and out of her life. Starting her freshman year at Howard University, Ada reflects back on how she got there, reliving the moments that have shaped her for the good and the bad. The heavy, sometimes toxic, expectations of being a first-generation child have weighed on her shoulders over the years, and now she must come to terms with who she is as she finds her place in America and in her own body. Your teens will be stunned as Ada relays her moving, sometimes shocking, story in this novel told entirely in verse. Ages 12 and up. 416pp.