Author: Nikki Grimes
From the Coretta Scott King Book Award List
I loved this book. The story was able to really pull at my emotions and I really felt like I got to know the main character, Paris. Growing up in New York, she and her brother watched their mother struggle and were eventually turned to foster care. Although the two tried to stay together, this story was about the family she lived with once they were separated. Paris had to learn to be independent and strong without her big brother there to help her, and she was lucky to have the Lincoln family there to support her. For some reason I have always been interested in adoption and foster care stories. My younger brother is adopted and though his story is nothing like Paris', I feel that learning about his story has given me a great interest in all stories involving these issues.
The author uses some great descriptions and allowed me to picture every scene in my head. She formed an emotional bond between the reader and the characters so that I felt every emotion Paris went through. Paris takes a while to adjust to her new home, her new brothers, mother, and friend at school. She takes their advice and eventually lets them in until she is hurt by a racial comment. As she fights through this challenge, and the challenges her birth mother continues to give her with waves of love and hate, she is able to grow and love those who care for her. Some parts were extremely sad, and the end was left almost open-ended, a big decision made without the consequences being revealed. As a reader I want to know more of the story, I want to help children like Paris, and I want to share her brave journey. This was an excellent book and I would recommend it to adults and older children.
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