I can imagine what it’s like to have a family member arrested and sent to jail. I learn what it feels like to be gifted and driven at sixteen with no resources to put a plan into action.

I learn what it’s like when Mom loses her job and a teenager feels the weight on her shoulders. I tried to set aside any thoughts of analyzing or reviewing.īri Teaches Me: From Bri, I learn what racism feels like from her perspective as a minority at a magnet high school. While reading this, I continually reminded myself to simply listen and absorb and build my understanding. Own Voices: On The Come Up is a powerful and difficult-to-tell story from an “own voices” author. Each book is a unique reading experience. Although the story takes place in the same community and makes a reference to the shooting at the center of The Hate You Give, this is not a sequel to THUG and can be read as a stand-alone. Author Angie Thomas has experience in the art of rapping and her authentic voice fills all the spaces in this realistic story with vivid details of the Garden Heights community and its memorable characters. This is a story about fighting for your dreams against the odds as it portrays the realities of poor and working-class black families. Bri makes some impulsive decisions as she fights to make her dreams a reality. Suddenly, Bri not only wants to make it as a rapper, now she has to make it.

At home, her mom has lost her job and the family is facing unpaid bills, shut off notices, an empty refrigerator, and the threat of homelessness. Bri is distracted at school by her rapping goals and neighborhood performances. The daughter of a Garden Heights rap legend, sixteen-year-old Bri’s greatest desires include making it as a rapper, making enough money to take care of her mom and siblings, and moving out of the neighborhood. *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Genre/Categories: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Homelessness, Poverty, Family Life, YA Music, Racism

On the come up book buy