Starred Review Identical twins Maya and Nikki and their best friend, Essence, have lived in Portland, Oregon, in a traditionally African American neighborhood all their lives. At the end of their junior year at Richmond High School, Essence moves away when her alcoholic mother's landlord sells their home as gentrification begins to change the neighborhood. Maya, the more serious and sensitive of the twins, narrates both the events and her outrage when Nikki becomes best friends with the girl in the white family who buys Essence's former home. Then, when school resumes, Richmond's new principal seems bent on proving the school's "inclusiveness" by disrespecting its black students' traditions. Writing with the artfulness and insights of African American teen-lit pioneers Rita Williams-Garcia, Angela Johnson, and Jacqueline Woodson, Watson shows Maya exploring concerns rarely made this accessible: the difficulties in mounting a student protest; the nuisance of unconscious racial bias perceived in white allies; the emotional chaos within as a cross-race romance develops for Maya despite her desire to ignore it. Authentic teen characterizations mean that questions and challenges aren't always answered and that Maya herself discovers the limits of her own awareness. Essential for all collections, without regard to color or racial and interracial awareness of readers.

Gr 9 Up-Maya is heading into her senior year at Richmond High, but it's nothing like she'd thought it would be. Her Portland neighborhood is changingalong with her twin sister Nikki, her relationship with her boyfriend Tevin, and Maya's plans with Nikki and their BFF Essence to attend the same historically black college. Rent goes up, forcing Essence and her family to move further away from the twins. Tony and his family move in. Maya and Nikki deal with their changing "up-and-coming neighborhood" in different ways as they're forced to blend their ethnic and cultural identities and traditions with a changing community. Watson offers readers a personal account of what gentrification does to a neighborhood and those who live in it before the Whole Foods moves in. Maya has a fantastic voicehonest, passionate, and multidimensional. On top of all the "normal" teenage issues dealing with friends, romance, and the future, Maya has to deal with the changes her neighborhood is going through. She's compelled to act to make sure the original people, stores, and history don't disappear so quickly. Gentrification can be extremely difficult to discuss, but Watson delivers a well-rounded, delicate, and important story without sacrificing any heart. An engrossing and timely coming-of-age story.— Emily Moore, Camden County Library System, NJ

Watson's first book for young adults will impact the life of anyone who reads it. Through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old African American, Watson brings to light the issues that teens deal with every day. Nikki, the protagonist, deals with the hard questions that everyone thinks about, but no one has the courage to ask. She does not shy away from questioning cultural bias and traditions, and as the reader journeys with her, that reader realizes that he or she wants to know the answers as well. Especially poignant is when Nikki wonders, "I can't remember when I started to have these feelings of pride and shame. I remember feeling pride when a black person succeededàand if a black person failed, I felt embarrassed. Do white people get that feeling?"At the beginning of the story, Watson's words create vivid images of summertime. The book is divided into seasons and follows Nikki for her senior year in high school. She deals with many issues in that year, from her friend's turbulent relationship with an alcoholic mother to falling in love with a white boy and hiding the relationship out of shame. She confronts cultural changes in her neighborhood and school. She questions the emotional distance that starts to appear between her and her twin sister. As Nikki tries to make sense of where she fits in and whether or not she needs to change, she realizes she cannot control everything but she can make a difference. This is the heart of the story and one that every teen can relate to. Written in very short chapters that appeal to reluctant readers, this book is suitable for middle to high school and recommended for adults as well. At a time when there is a call for more diverse books, Watson brings to today's teens a story that needs to be read.Valerie Burleigh.