Name: Pieces of why
ISBN: 9780803734746

Kelly L. Going

Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole world revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha--but when practice is interrupted by a shooting outside the church, and a baby's killed, Tia finds that she can't sing, and she's forced to confront her feelings about her incarcerated father, who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.

Pieces of why

Jeni Enjaian

A student of mine brought this book in and told me that I had to read it. Having previously known nothing about the book, only a little about the author, I picked it up here and there while my students read during English class until I got to point where I wanted to extend their reading time so that I could continue reading this book.
Going creates a heart-breaking realistic tale of a young girl, Tia, who lives in a lower-income, diverse neighborhood of New Orleans with her mother and the taint of a father in prison for robbery, at least that's what Tia believes about her father when the narrative begins. Tia and her best friend, Keisha, sing in a local choir, the Rainbow Choir, a drive-by shooting that results in the death of a young child less than a year old reopens old wounds and restarts old rumors that paint Tia with the taint of her father, not just an armed robber.
I highly recommend this book.

Pieces of why

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