An inspiring story about a single teen mom making her way through a life filled with family estrangement, domestic violence, sexual assault, and hazardous working conditions, all thanks to her positive outlook and determination and help from other caring women. ( )

A moving memoir about a woman whose dreams kept her going, despite many obstacles. Inspiring story and great main character.

Lexile: 460 ( )

The author draws and tells her story of becoming a single, homeless mother at age 17, trying to support herself and her daughter, and how she overcame serious obstacles to get to college. ( )

This inspiring graphic novel is a welcome deviation away from the stark, yet slim books encouraging pregnant teen moms to continue with their higher education. Instead of coming off as preachy, Arnoldi explains through pictures her own story. When I read this, I get the distinct impression that Arnoldi is genuine; sharing this as a friend over tea rather than a educator on a different way of life. ( )

In black & white illustrations, Arnoldi tells the story of her struggle to get to college despite many obstacles, including single parenthood, abusive relationships, poverty, lack of family support. Dreams of college take a backseat to meeting basic needs of survival, but her determination pays off.

Innocent drawings only hint at the gravity of situations: rape, incest, physical abuse. Abusive men are drawn as monsters to reflect their character, but the images soften the reality. Negative images are white on black. Illustations creatively convey situations and emotions, and are accompanied by spare narrative description. Hand-drawn borders and spaces between frames add to the story.

Arnoldi's goal was to encourage teenage moms to go to college. Her example will encourage others, and she provides resources and advice at the end of this book. With few exceptions, men in this "fictionalized" autobiography are evil; all the heroes are female. Gr 8-12 ( )