Jade is a 16-year-old African American girl who lives in a low-income neighborhood and rides the city bus daily to her predominantly white, upper income private school. At the urging of her mom who works as a housekeeper, Jade takes advantage of every opportunity that the school offers her.
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When Jade’s white guidance counselor funnels her into a mentoring program called Woman to Woman for “at risk” African American girls, Jade is offended but masks her feelings. As the top student in her Spanish class, Jade had deserved an invitation to attend a program where she could use her language skills to help children.
Even her African American mentor disappoints. Missing meetings, accepting phone calls during their outings, and inadvertently highlighting their income differences. With the love and guidance of her no nonsense mom and best friend Lee Lee, Jade learns to expresses herself, speak uncomfortable truths, and confront those who make decisions about her.
The stress of dealing with overt and covert racism and well-intentioned but unrecognized discrimination takes it’s toll. Jade is exhausted by the daily deconstruction and reconstruction of her sense of self, like creating one of her collages.
This story does not have romance or action; rather, the author let’s us inside Jade’s thoughts and feelings where we witness her determination to stay whole every day. This is where the empathy lies.
Overt racism is easy to spot. Covert racism can be subtle and nuanced. Piecing Me Together shines a light on race, class, and even body image.
The target audience is seventh through ninth grades.
The prose is lyrical and a pure joy to read.
Piecing Me Together has earned the following awards:
NPR’s Best Books of 2017
A 2017 New York Public Library Best Teen Book of the Year
Chicago Public Library’s Best Books of 2017
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017
Kirkus Reviews‘ Best Teen Books of 2017
2018 Josette Frank Award Winner
