by Kiese Laymon
First published 2013
When 14-year-old quiz prodigy City Coldson has a meltdown on national TV, he's sent to stay with his grandmother. There, he discovers a strange book called "Long Division" that sends him hurtling through time. As City unravels the book's secrets, he must confront the disappearance of a local girl and the turbulent history of his Mississippi hometown. Blending sharp humor, gritty realism, and time-bending fantasy, this genre-defying debut is a high-stakes adventure about the power of storytelling to transcend the past.
Genres: american-fiction, african-american, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Mississippi
Period: Present Day
277 pages · Kindle Edition · Agate Bolden