For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. This will encourage readers to press in to the difficult questions and look for the truth beneath. His confident story tackles race, sexuality, wealth, beauty, and faith as he revisits the characters and Brooklyn location of his first novel. As he did in Husky (2015), Sayre once again proves that he understands the complexity of growing up. But a school project makes her consider the real meaning of beauty, and it is nothing like what she finds in Janet’s fashion magazines. A light-skinned black girl with a French father and her mother’s sense of fashion, Sophie is pretty. With her mother gone, Sophie has the space to consider who she wants to be. But trips to her aunt’s church, a session at a local beauty salon, and long talks over steaming bowls of spicy stew encourage Sophie to relax. At first, Sophie feels suffocated by the attention. Auntie Amara, with her dreadlocks and music, comes to stay in their quiet Brooklyn home. After a particularly bad episode, Sophie returns from school to find Janet, a freelance fashion journalist, packing for an extended trip to Paris. Sometimes Janet is happy, dancing and singing through the apartment. The only time 13-year-old Sophie can relax is when her alcoholic mother, Janet, finally falls into bed asleep.
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