First published 2008
The narrator and her best friend Neeka live quiet lives in their safe Queens neighborhood until D Foster walks into their world. D comes from somewhere completely different. She knows about foster families and loss and has a kind of freedom the other girls have never experienced. All three girls love Tupac Shakur's music, but D understands his lyrics in ways that make them real for the narrator and Neeka. D opens their eyes to parts of life they never knew existed. The girls are thirteen when D's mother suddenly returns to take her away. D vanishes from their lives as quickly as she had appeared. Tupac dies too, shot again, this time for good. Years later, the narrator remembers how brief connections can reach deep inside you and change everything.
Genres: fiction, african-american, coming-of-age, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Queens
Period: 20th-century
160 pages · ebook · Putnam Publishing Group