May 27, 2019
Rising seventh-grader Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman (or, as she prefers, Cadet E-Grace Starfleet) is obsessed with all manner of science fiction, much preferring her spacefaring internal life to the real world. When her aging grandfather, who was among the first black NASA engineers, is beset by unspecified trouble, Ebony is sent from her affluent Alabama family to stay with her working-class father in Harlem, which she calls “No Joke City.” Homesick, named “Ice Cream Sandwich” by her peers (“Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside”), and sporting superhero T-shirts, Ebony finds it impossible to fit in with neighborhood girls interested in double Dutch and Dapper Dan’s. Instead, she uses her “imagination location” to create tales about rescuing her grandfather, the audacious Captain Fleet, a storyline illustrated in occasional unattributed comic strips. Ebony-Grace’s behaviors present as neurodiverse, though this is never labeled in the text. The girl eventually learns “to see a place with new eyes,” but underdeveloped subplots about her grandfather and her father’s brother hamper Ebony-Grace’s exploration of her second home. Even so, Zoboi (American Street) excels at resurrecting 1980s Harlem in her middle grade debut, expertly sprinkling in nostalgia-fueled references to break dancing, rap battles, and the rise of female MCs. Ages 10–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
June 1, 2019
Twelve-year-old aspiring astronaut Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman is lonely and homesick in New York. When trouble hits her family like an asteroid, Ebony-Grace, aka Cadet E-Grace Starfleet, is forced to leave her beloved grandfather and her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, to spend a week with her father in Harlem, New York--or as she calls it, "No Joke City." Determined to ignore what she calls the "Sonic Boom," New York's hip-hop revolution in the early 1980s, Ebony-Grace rejects the people, music, and movements of Harlem, instead blasting off in her mind aboard the Mothership Uhura to save her grandfather, Capt. Fleet. Stuck, Ebony-Grace works to navigate a new frontier where she is teased and called "crazy" because of her imaginative intergalactic adventures. Ostracized as a flava-less, "plain ol' ice cream sandwich! Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside," Ebony-Grace tries her best to be "regular and normal," but her outer-space imaginings are the only things that keep her grounded. The design includes images that sho nuff bring the '80s alive: comic-strip panels, inverted Star Wars scripting, and onomatopoeic graffiti-esque words. Unfortunately, these serve to interrupt an already-crowded narrative as readers hyperjump between Ebony-Grace's imagination and the movement of life in the real world, transmitted via news reports and subway memorials. This middle-grade read is heartfelt, but nostalgia that's a bit too on the nose makes it hard to follow. (Historical fiction. 10-12)
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August 1, 2019
Gr 4-7-A story about imagination and trying to fit in, set in 1980s Harlem. Twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet leaves her mother and beloved, ill grandfather in Alabama and touches down in busy New York City to visit her father. To cope with loud, crowded, and confusing surroundings, Ebony-Grace retreats into her imaginary outer space world, which she has created with her grandfather. Unfortunately, Ebony-Grace's peers are not interested in pretending to be space captains-not even her sometimes-friend, Bianca-and she is mocked. But Ebony-Grace continues to pretend that she is E-Grace Starfleet on a mission in No Joke City to defeat the Sonic King and rescue Captain Fleet. At the story's climax, Ebony-Grace steals an envelope of money from her father and inexplicably uses it to equip Bianca's Double Dutch crew with new clothes and an entrance fee to compete at the Apollo Theater, connecting these actions with her mission. This theft causes a rift between her father and uncle, and they come to blows. Short graphic panels depicting Ebony-Grace's eye-catching imaginary space world interrupt the story periodically to engage readers. Ebony-Grace's voice is both young and incredibly socially awkward; readers may spend the narrative waiting for a big reveal as to why she acts both paranoid and much younger than her chronological age while being unable to leave her "imagination location" to preserve any social grace. For example, Ebony-Grace often speaks into an imaginary communicator, has a running commentary about being on a space mission, blasts kids with an imaginary weapon on her wrists when she doesn't get her way, accuses her father of putting mind control poison in her food, and thinks that the loud sounds of the city are sonic booms. Young readers may also have trouble grasping the 1980s references, which seem more suited to an adult audience. VERDICT Recommended for libraries that have a strong Ibi Zoboi readership, though the audience will be different here.-Shannon O'Connor, Unami Middle School, Chalfont, PA
Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 Zoboi's middle-grade debut takes readers back to Harlem in the 1980s. Ebony-Grace lives with her mom in Huntsville, Alabama, and idolizes her grandfather, one of NASA's first Black engineers. Together, Ebony-Grace and her grandfather fantasize about life in space. When he gets into trouble and Ebony-Grace is sent to her father in New York, her first instinct is to retreat into her imagination location. However, it's only when she is able to merge her imagination with her reality that Ebony-Grace finds the courage to meet her real life head-on. As she endeavors to adjust to her new surroundings, where she doesn't feel like she fits in with other kids, Ebony-Grace faces each obstacle in her own unique way?and comes out the other side with brand new friends. Because the narrative's focus is on Ebony-Grace's time in Harlem, the trouble with her grandfather is never made clear, but readers will nevertheless become engrossed in her story. Fueled with rich imaginative scenes and comics-style illustrations, this book will truly transport its young readers to another world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2019
During summer 1984, seventh grader Ebony-Grace visits the father she hardly knows in Harlem. Her anxiety is exacerbated when she learns her beloved grandfather (who entertains her star-filled dreams of space travel and adventure) is in trouble back in Alabama. Zoboi's touching and (sometimes) humorous coming-of-age story highlights the importance of imagination and learning to celebrate being different. Interspersed black-and-white comic panel illustrations depict Ebony-Grace's fanciful voyages to other worlds.
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2019
In the summer before seventh grade, in 1984, Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman?also known as E-Grace Starfleet, space cadet, in the comics she imagines?is on her way to visit her father in Harlem. Her journey from Huntsville, Alabama, to New York City seems more like a trip to a foreign galaxy, as she must cope with living with a father she hardly knows, adjusting to an unfamiliar neighborhood, and navigating confusing social circles and friendships. Adding to her anxiety, she soon learns that her beloved grandfather (the only person who entertains her star-filled dreams of science fiction, space travel, and adventure) is in some kind of trouble back home, and unfortunately for her, she will be staying in Harlem longer than initially planned. Throughout the novel, Ebony-Grace faces the challenges of change and of creating new relationships and community. Zoboi's (American Street, rev. 3/17; Pride, rev. 9/18) touching and (sometimes) humorous coming-of-age story highlights the importance of imagination and learning to celebrate what it means to be different in a world that demands conformity. Interspersed black-and-white panel illustrations that depict Ebony-Grace's fanciful voyages to other worlds add touches of nostalgia and authenticity to an already-captivating character and story. monique harris
(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)