Finding My Place
A Novel
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4.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
After moving to an affluent suburb of Denver in 1975, ninth-grader Tiphanie, the only Black girl in her new high school, feels out of place until she befriends another outsider--Jackie Sue, whose "trailer trash" home life makes Tiphanie's problems seem like a walk in the park.
In October 1975, while most teens are worried about their Happy Days Halloween costumes, Tiphanie Jayne Baker has bigger problems. Her parents have just decided to uproot the family to the ritzy suburb of Brent Hills, Colorado, and now she's the only Black girl at a high school full of Barbies. But the longer Tiphanie stays in her new neighborhood, the more her ties to her old community start to fray. Now that nowhere feels like home, exactly where does she belong?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fourteen-year-old Tiphanie Baker's parents, former civil rights activists, are "big on doing their part to uplift the race" and firmly expect Tiphanie to do the same. In the fall of 1975, she leaves her comfortable neighborhood and moves to a nearly all-white school in Denver's suburbs, where she "never felt so Black and so friendless in my entire life." While her parents revel in their prestigious new jobs, Tiphanie becomes an object of curiosity and animosity at school, until another outcast, Jackie Sue (self-described "walking talking trailer trash") befriends her. The tension of the story comes from a bigoted and threatening classmate who preys on both girls and the growing mountain of secrets that Jackie Sue seems to be keeping about her alcoholic, depressed mother. Jones (Standing Against the Wind) does well to keep the story focused on Jackie Sue and Tiphanie's complicated friendship, while subtly showcasing the equally complex intersections of race and class. It's a straightforward, welltold story with characters that ring true, and the bittersweet ending will remind readers that friendships sometimes come at a cost. Ages 12 up.
