Though many adults may recognize Manzano as Maria from Sesame Street, she's likely more well known among today's teens as the author of the Pura Belpré winning The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (2012). In her present-tense memoir, Manzano, who grew up in 1950s South Bronx, examines her community, her family, and her ever-changing self with a wide-eyed curiosity. She struggles to make sense of her mother's decisions, such as staying with an abusive husband and trading in a hardscrabble existence in Puerto Rico for an equally challenging life in the U.S. It's Manzano's gift for theater that provides her the opportunity of a lifetime, and thanks to her talent, she attends a performing-arts high school and then Carnegie Mellon. This beautifully rendered coming-of-age story calls to mind Betty Smith's classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Though it's a bit slow moving at times and would have benefited from a time line to help ground readers, this is nevertheless an inspiring portrait of resiliency and a time capsule for a New York that now feels like a distant memory.