A deep look into a rough childhood that formed and shaped hooks into the woman she is today. A very triumphant story since no matter how hard her family or society tried to keep her down, she kept fighting! ( )

I had never read anything by bell hooks, and this memoir of her early childhood is a fine launching place. She and I are the same age but hardly from the same circumstances. bell grew up as one of many children in a household with hard-working but abusive parents. As a result of her vivid imagination and give-no-fucks attitude, she was isolated and resented by her family and always yearned for her mother's approval but would not, could not, toe the line. The memoir is made up of brief chapters of recollection, flooded with exploding feelings and with a jaded awareness that she would be a singular sensation through her life. She befriends odd ducks like herself and considers that she is saved by books. The cover image, of a tiny girl in a dainty white pinafore dress, looking stubborn even at a young age, rends the heart and makes you yearn to have known her.

Quotes: "Only grownups think that the things children say come out of nowhere."

"I cannot stand all the secret places I have had to make inside myself." ( )

I loved this book! I am a huge bell hooks fan but this was the first of her books that I have read that was specifically about her life. I enjoyed the way the book was written and I identified with her struggle.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is/was a girl or personally knows one. I think that this book gives some insight into how Black women are taught to define themselves and how sometimes that definition makes you an outsider within your own community. ( )