A teen girl hiding the scars of a past relationship finds home and healing in the words of strong Black writers. A beautiful sophomore novel from a critically acclaimed author and poet that explores how words have the power to shape and uplift our world even in the midst of pain.

When Darius told Angel he loved her, she believed him. But five weeks after the incident, Angel finds herself in Brooklyn, far from her family, from him, and from the California life she has known.

Angel feels out of sync with her new neighborhood. At school, she cant shake the feeling everyone knows what happenedand that it was her fault. The only place that makes sense is Ms. Gs class. There, Angels classmates share their own stories of pain, joy, and fortitude. And as Angel becomes immersed in her revolutionary literature course, the words from Black writers like Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Zora NEale Hurstonspeak to her and begin to heal the wounds of her past.

This stunning novel weaves together prose, poems, and vignettes to tell the story of Angel, a young woman whose past was shaped by domestic violence but whose love of language and music and the gift of community grant her the chance to find herself again.

About the Author

Mahogany L. Browne, selected as Kennedy Center’s Next 50, is the executive director of JustMedia, artistic director of Urban Word, a writer, playwright, organizer, and educator. Browne has received fellowships from Arts for Justice, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research, and Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works:Vinyl Moon, Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby,andBlack Girl Magic.Founder of the diverse lit initiative Woke Baby Book Fair, Browne’s latest poetry collectionChrome Valley(Norton) is a promissory note to survival. She is the first-ever poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

• Language : English
• Paperback : 176 pages
• Reading age : 14 – 17 years
• Grade level : 9 – 12
• Item Weight : 5 ounces
• Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.39 x 8.2 inches