Juliana Goodman

audiobook teen fiction - a 16 y.o. Black art student at a mostly-white public high school in Chicago seeks out answers after her pharmacy-track older sister was shot by a white police officer, but the local gang doesn't want her to stir up trouble and her school suspends her (unfairly) after the police portray her dead sister as a cocaine dealer.

I have no experience with Beau's Grady Park neighborhood, but I loved that her character and her friends and neighbors got to have a voice in this book, and I loved the solidity of Beau's friendships --no matter what any of them were going through, or how dangerous their situations, these girls had each others' backs except maybe Dasia?. At a time where everything seems to be stacked against girls like Beau, these relationships are a needed source of strength. I know I'm not the only one that this debut novel has made a strong impression on, because my local library is actively promoting it on its physical and digital shelves.… (meer)