First published 2023
Precious Perez grows up outside Boston with a voice that fills every room. Born weighing just one pound at two and a half months premature, she lives without sight after her eyes failed to develop fully. Her family teases that she will study at Berklee College of Music someday, but most people around her focus on what blindness prevents her from doing. Precious begins to believe them. Then a high school music teacher recognizes her talent and pushes her to audition. The teacher's advocacy forces Precious to confront a choice between accepting others' limitations or pursuing her musical dreams. As she prepares for Berklee, Precious discovers that her disability can become a source of strength rather than shame. Her journey reveals how one person's belief can unlock possibilities that seemed impossible. This memoir shows a young woman learning to define herself through what she can accomplish rather than what others think she cannot do.
Genres: autobiography, young-adult, biography-memoir, music, disability
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: overcoming-adversity, pursuit-of-dreams
Setting: Boston
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
112 pages · Hardcover · Norton Young Readers