Zoboi, Ibi.
AMERICAN STREET
New York : Balzer + Bray, 2017
IL YA
ISBN 0062473042

(3 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Fabiola Toussaint and her mother are on their way to America. Life in Haiti is hard and they are looking forward moving to Detroit with her aunt and cousins. But at the airport, the unthinkable happens. Fabiola's mother is detained by ICE and taken away. She tells Fabiola to keep going and get to Detroit. This is not how it is supposed to be. But Fabiola has no other option. She arrives in Detroit and is taken in by her family. But this is not the way she pictured life. The life in Detroit is not easy. There is abuse and drugs everywhere. Fabiola must survive in this and she must find a way to get her mother here. This is a stark look at what many immigrants find on their search for the American dream.

Booktalk #2

Imagine arriving in America in pursuit of the American Dream only to be ripped apart from the only family you have. Fabiola Toussaint and her mother left Haiti for the “une belle vie” (a good life) in America. When her mother is detained by US Immigrations, Fabiola is left alone in America to navigate the American way of life. Fabiola must find her place in America with conflicting American and Haitian values. Is the price of freedom really worth it? (Prepared by: Laura Ward, Greeleyville Elementary School, lward@wcsd.k12.sc for South Carolina Book Award)

Booktalk #3

Fabiola and her mother are on their way to the United States when her mother is detained by U. S. Immigration and sent back to Haiti. Fabiola is left to navigate her three boisterous cousins, Detroit’s west side, a new school and an unpredictable romance all alone with only her faith as solace. (Connecticut Nutmeg Award https://www.nutmegaward.org/)