First published 1998
Gayle's mother has had enough. After her street-smart fourteen-year-old daughter gets into serious trouble with her boyfriend, she makes a drastic decision. Gayle and her baby José are getting sent away from their New York neighborhood to live with Uncle Luther's family in Georgia. The rural South feels like another planet to Gayle. There's absolutely nothing happening, nowhere interesting to visit, and nobody worth talking to except her cousin Cookie, who wears kneesocks and constantly talks about Jesus. Gayle feels trapped and restless until she encounters Great, the elderly family matriarch. Great begins sharing stories from decades past, tales that force Gayle to reconsider everything she thought she knew about her family and herself. These conversations slowly shift how Gayle views her own possibilities and what her life could become.
Genres: fiction, family, historical-fiction, african-american, young-adult, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Georgia, New York
Period: 20th-century
176 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Puffin Books