This novel about a young girl from an impoverished family struggling to find her voice and her place in a privileged upper-class high school was a wonderful look at the ways class intersect with race and demonstrates that the Black experience is as diverse and individual as the Black community is large. Highly recommended for any library looking to add more diverse experiences into their collection.

Ooh, the rare YA book that's actually meant for teen readers!

I love that I have another book I can safely recommend to younger teens who are done with middle grade but not quite emotionally or developmentally ready for mainstream YA. This isn't to say that this novel doesn't deal with heavy issues, but there's very little on-the-page depictions of sex, which can be a concern for both some parents and teens. It seems that there's little room for YA that is for younger readers, what with the boom of adult readers and their influence. But that's another topic for another time.

I read Piecing Me Together in virtually one sitting. I loved Jade's determination and her journey to speak up for herself. I liked that so many of the characters made mistakes but were also good people -- realistic portrayals that teens will appreciate. There was a lack of focus on romance, which I found refreshing, and I liked the soft focus on family. We know that Jade's family struggles, but Jade's issues and feelings take center stage. Jade juggles a lot, like many teens, but manages to make time for her own art and self-care.

This book takes on a variety of issues: microaggressions, poverty, racism, how poverty and racism can intersect, internalized racism and respectability politics, and police brutality. Interwoven with these timely issues are themes familiar to any reader of the YA category: self-expression, friendship, struggles with one's family, becoming more confident in your self, and realizing your own power. Although the books are different, it reminds me a bit of The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, with its nod to poetry and art, and the issues it effortlessly and realistically tackles.

I'd recommend this to 12 - 19 year olds, and to ambitious MG readers.

Authentic characters that address tough themes presented in The Hate You Give in a way that is appropriate for younger audiences.

When I read this I forgot to add my review to this site! And then I decided to read it again, and that made me think to come back and semi review it. I loved seeing Jade grow into the woman she was. I loved seeing her start speaking for herself and letting people know that she mattered and wasn't to be overlooked. I also loved all the important issues this book talked about. Its all about issues that are so relevant now and everyone needs to read this!

Brilliant story filled with heart, drama, and unforgettable characters. Loved this book to bits!! Such an unputdownable story!

Beautiful, important, powerful, honest, raw, hopeful. All words that describe this book for me. It's a lovely book that should be in all high school classrooms. Well-deserving of all the awards!

PIECING ME TOGETHER by Renee Watson is about Jade, a girl from a poor neighborhood who believes that in order to succeed in life, she must get out of her neighborhood. Her mother encourages her to take every opportunity she possibly can and she does just that by accepting a scholarship to a mostly-white private school and by joining a group called Women-to-Women, which is a mentorship program for "at risk" youths. The problem is, that it is really for black girls from "bad" neighborhoods. Jade thinks she doesn't need support and uses her voice show that she doesn't need saving.

"Sometimes I just want to be comfortable in this skin, this body. Want to cock my head back and laugh loud and free, all my teeth showing, and not be told I’m too rowdy, too ghetto."

I love that this book features Jade who is an artist trying to find her place in the world. She's proud of who she is. The book is all about her life and really goes into detail in discussing microaggressions to outright racism. I also love that this book heavily features friendships/relationships between women. There's no romance and it's refreshing. The relationship Jade has with her mom is so complex. But at its core, this story is solely about Jade and her art, struggles, relationships, opportunities, and just being a teenager. She's a very relatable character and I loved learning about her. This is a powerful coming-of-age story that anyone will love.

All in all, a very solid, emotional story that I'm sure to remember. I highly recommend it.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the review copy.

Piecing Me Together is a short but amazing novel full of unique characters and gripping writing. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet.

I couldn't put this down. Jade's voice is so compelling. This is a great character-driven story about the difficulties of being poor and black at a rich white school, and how sometimes Jade's poor white friend can't understand her life, and sometimes Jade's wealthy (ish) black mentor can't understand her life. (Intersectionality in action y'all, and so deftly handled).

A great book to hand to fans of contemporary realistic books--especially for readers looking for books without romance. Jade's art is also a big part of the story, so that's another big appeal factor here. A really beautiful book!

This book was really good. I devoured it in almost one day which is rare for me. I liked how the main character battled race with her friend telling her why she was able to get things such as an invitation to study abroad. A really important book.

I really liked this story about Jade, who is trying to fit in two very different places-her neighborhood, where she's pretty sure she doesn't want to stay because of the crime and her exclusive prep school, where she doesn't feel like she fits in. Her art helps her express her feelings and maybe will give her some opportunities to go places. I think kids are going to love this one.

This is very well done. I must say at first I wasn't sure if I liked it and it took a bit for me to get going but once I did it was beautifully told ad powerful.

Jade is poor and her family struggles to make ends meet. But Jade is talented and smart. She gets into a prestigious private school on a scholarship based on her grades. But she always feels on the outside - like people assume she is there because she is black not because she is smart. Then she is picked for a mentoring program. Again she feels that it is more out of sympathy and she finds it condescending. With the help of her mentor she learns to speak up for herself and what she needs. Soon she able to voice her opinions and concerns with her family, her teachers, and her friends.

What I really loved was the use of collage as her art and as part of her story. The references to York, the black slave who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition was woven into the story well. Because Jade is a high school student I am not sure if the book would find an audience at my elementary school but it should be in the junior high and high school.

I am honestly confused as to why I’m not seeing more people raving about this book. It’s incredible. It has multiple starred reviews, including one from Kirkus! What this tells me is that I need to look at who I follow on twitter and expand that list.

Jade is such a great character. Her voice is compelling and unique and so, so important. I loved seeing the world through her eyes. She’s from a “bad” neighborhood and is working hard to make her way out. She has a scholarship to mostly white private school and has been given opportunities through that. When she is recommended for a mentoring program Jade is surprised. Sure, her family doesn’t have much money and her mom works a lot. However, she’s not alone in the world. Her mother is present in her life and pushes her to be her best.

This book really challenges so many stereotypes and prejudices people hold about things like race, poverty, and even being plus sized. Yes, Jade’s family is poor and she sometimes needs a little help (like the scholarship.) This doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of helping others or that she has nothing to offer. Many of the well meaning adults in her life (both at school and through the mentorship program) look at Jade and see “poor” or “black” or “overweight.” They make assumptions about her and her life and don’t see all she has to offer. She is smart and a talented artist. She tutors other students and wants to make a difference in the world. I loved seeing her find her voice and make them see her for who she is.

There are so many other things I loved about this book… the exploration of friendships and relationships in general, Jade’s art, how it deals with issues of racial profiling/police brutality, the look at families. It’s all just really powerful.

I cannot recommend Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson enough. An excellent read.

Diversity Rating: 4 – This Is Our World

Racial-Ethnic: 5 (the vast majority of the cast is black)
QUILTBAG: 0
Disability: 0
Intersectionality: 5 (the book is 100% focused on the realities of black girlhood; Jade’s family is also extremely poor to the point of barely getting by)

To a class of creative writing students, half of whom were Those Guys and cited Hemingway as one of their favorite writers, I described Renee Watson’s 2016 novel This Side of Home as “a punch in the face–in a good way.” Saying I’m a big fan of what Watson writes? THAT WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. But as much as I loved Watson’s debut, I think I love Piecing Me Together even more.

In a nutshell, Piecing Me Together is a vivid portrait of what life is like for a black girl in the 2010s. Jade is a brilliant collage artist and standout student who hopes to go overseas one day on a school trip, but because she’s poor and black, she’s assumed to be “at risk” and drafted into Woman to Woman, a mentoring group set up for “at-risk” girls. The massive scholarship to any Oregon college is the only reason Jade is willing to stick with it; that money is likely the only way she will be able to attend college.

Jade is a brilliant, memorable character whose observations are made more profound by Watson’s enchanting language. See: her being reduced to an “at-risk” girl in need of help because she’s poor and black even though her school record indicates she’s doing just fine. Woman to Woman isn’t addressing much of what she wants from them either; until she says something about wanting more practical experiences, group and mentor activities consist of going to a symphony performance or gathering at a rich woman’s house with fancy food. Her own mentor Maxine often fails to understand where Jade’s coming from because Maxine grew up rich.

Though not a character, Woman to Woman will stick with me for a long time as though it were one. It’s an advocacy and mentoring group set up by black women for black girls, but it initially fails them by failing to understand what the girls really need or want. Any group can fall into this pitfall and really underscores how important it is to listen to the people you want to help. If you don’t, you’re wasting your own resources and their time. Upon hearing Jade’s criticisms, Woman to Woman does what any good group would: they listen to her and make changes to better address problems in their target group’s lives.

One conflict in Jade’s life that really struck me: the difficult friendship she has with Sam, a white girl who’s just as poor as Jade. They bond over their shared poverty and ride public transportation to school every day, but when a store clerk insists Jade hand over her backpack if she wants to stay in the store, Sam insists Jade’s blackness had nothing to do with it. Jade then utters a quote that will surely resonate with anyone who isn’t white or white-passing:

“I don’t know what’s worse. Being mistreated because of the color of your skin, your size, or having to prove that it really happened.” (ARC, p. 135)

My family and I are all white as snow, but my family leans significantly more conservative versus my super liberal leanings. When I brought up voter suppression to my mother once, she dismissed it by saying that she personally had never felt her vote was suppressed. Even though she grew up in southern Georgia amidst desegregation and the civil rights movement, she couldn’t see past her own experience and understand what black people in her life went through. Jade and Sam’s fights and disagreements echoed exactly what I go through with my family.

Later on in the novel, a black girl is the victim of police brutality. This becomes another point of contention between Sam and Jade because Sam simply doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand Jade’s fears of becoming the next victim and how unfortunately normal such incidences are. Even as it makes Jade afraid, it’s nothing new to her at the same time. It’s just another incident to add to an already-lengthy list of them.

Honestly, I could fill this entire review with beautiful passages and transcendent quotes instead of talking. Watson’s prose is something else entirely and led to me making highlights and bookmarking pages until I had approximately half the book marked up. Picking out just one or two as true standouts is almost impossible! White readers will come away from this having learned more about the experiences of teenage black girls; black readers will have a book that makes it clear someone does understand what they go through and they’re telling their stories.

Being a “good” book reviewer and trying to keep up on my review copies means I don’t have time for rereads, but Piecing Me Together is the book that made me wish I did. As soon as I turned the last page, I wanted to go back to the beginning and re-immerse myself in Jade’s life and Watson’s beautiful language. To make your social activism better, read this book. To make yourself a better person, read this book. If there’s one author I will immediately rec to someone who loves YA contemporary, Renee Watson is that author. Barely a month into 2017, I can easily declare this one of the best books of the year!

Spoiler Free Review:

As always, I am very late to reviewing books but as the cliche saying goes, better late than never? Piecing Me Together
The book isn't written in verse, but the short chapters and poetic verses almost felt like it was a story written in verse. Art in all forms is significant throughout the story which really spoke to me. Jade is an artist and loves to draw and create collages. The art was symbolic of her life and Jade growing into herself. White privilege, racial profiling and police brutality are all topics brought up in this story. You really get to see how scary it is for black teenagers to be living in fear of being oppressed or arrested for no reason.

So one thing I've noticed in some YA books is after an event, the main character kind of just gives up on their education. I was really glad to see Jade still trying to strive for success. Her mother pushing her to try and pursue a great education was very reminiscent to my own parents and I'm sure to many others. I also liked the relationship between Jade and her mentor. Her mentor didn't fix Jade and was not perfect at all. There was some miscommunication in the beginning, but the friendship was genuine and encouraging.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, I especially loved the poem at the end which was on police brutality. The story really did pack a punch especially towards the end and i would highly recommend reading it.

Rating: 3.75/5

Wow! Where to start? I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. The story follows Jade, a black teenager who thinks her only way to succeed is to make it out of her neighborhood. Her mother wants her to have every opportunity (a word Jade kind of despises), and thus, Jade attends a private school on scholarship. Her guidance counselor (also a big believer in giving Jade opportunities) has set her up in a mentorship program for "at-risk" black girls. Jade decides to stay in the program, since it will net her a scholarship for college, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.

Jade as a character has an amazing voice and presence. As the novel goes on, she finds her voice and her presence, and realizes she doesn't know everything. Throughout the course of the novel, she deals with a lot of difficult things in her life that are also timely issues for today. From the microaggression of being asked to store her purse with a clerk while shopping (when none of the white customers ate asked to) to how her and her friends in her neighborhood react to police violence against black teenagers, the way everything is handled is realistic, and gave me a lot of food for thought as a white woman. I also really liked the inclusion of a friend Jade makes at her private school. Her friend is white, and provides some pushback to Jade, forcing her to figure out how to handle a friend who denies any racism in any situation where Jade feels discriminated against. The arc of their friendship is interesting to watch. All of the characters Jade encounters are well-developed and understandable. This is a novel full of love and grit.

I cannot get over this novel that Renee Watson has written. I have no bad things to say about it. This is my first Renee Watson book, but it will not be my last. I like the way the story is told, in collage-like pieces that mirror Jade's own artwork. Additionally, I do a lot of reading of authors who are actively anti-racist when I read nonfiction. In a lot of novels I have read, though, I feel like racism is handled in BIG situations, like shootings and lynchings and other very OVERT acts of racism. In this book, these issues are discussed, but what is more insidious are the daily acts of everyday racism that Jade encounters, that are likely real for most black Americans. That most black Americans encounter these situations makes me angry, but that there's a YA novel that shows a teenager dealing with it and navigating it as she finds her place in the world makes me happy. If it's a reality of our world, I'm glad it can speak to someone's authentic experience, and maybe speak to those of us who don't have those experiences because of our privilege and show us we need to do better.

Note: I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

PIECING ME TOGETHER by Renee Watson is a must-read book in my opinion and I do not say that very often. I kept wishing that our students could meet the main character, Jade, and have a frank conversation with her. Reading her thoughts in PIECING ME TOGETHER will prompt much discussion about racial and class stereotypes, about the nature of friendship, and empathy for others and their history. Jade is a talented artist and high school student at [she says] "the best private school in Portland, which means it's mostly white, which means it’s expensive."

Jade is often torn between her neighborhood friend, Lee Lee, and a new schoolmate, Sam, neither of whom can fully appreciate the other's world. At times, Jade struggles with self-acceptance, perseverance, and forging a relationship with a mentor, Maxine, a young black woman from a more affluent background. Jade has to learn to speak up for herself; even telling Maxine, "sometimes you make me feel like you've come to fix me; only, I don’t feel broken."

PIECING ME TOGETHER would be a great book group for teachers/students and mentors/mentees like those at Link Unlimited in Chicago to read and discuss together. Similarly, art teachers could incorporate a unit featuring the collages of Romare Bearden or art by Mickalene Thomas, both of whom are mentioned in PIECING ME TOGETHER. If you wish to start reading an excerpt or see more well-deserved praise for Renee Watson's novel, check out the publisher's site. PIECING ME TOGETHER received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

Links used in live post:
http://linkunlimited.org/web/
http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml
http://mickalenethomas.com/gallery.html
http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/piecing-me-together-9781681191058/

Renée Watson’s Piecing Me Together is a must read

PIECING ME TOGETHER by Renée Watson, Bloomsbury USA Childrens, Feb. 14, 2017, hardcover, $17.99 (young adult)

I am a white woman living in the suburbs of Salt Lake City. And though I have a number of black friends and a few black family members, I really have no idea what it is like to be a black woman in America. That’s why I find books like Renée Watson’s Piecing Me Together so compelling.

At the center of Piecing Me Together is Jade, a black teen who thinks leaving her poor neighborhood is the only way she’s going to be successful. Jade grabs every opportunity that comes her way — a scholarship to a mostly-white private school and Saturday morning test prep opportunities.

Sometimes those “opportunities” and those who offer them come across as condescending rather than beneficial. When Jade receives an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for “at-risk” girls, aka black girls, she’s reluctant to join. But she can’t pass up the scholarship that comes with it. The problem is, Maxine, Jade’s mentor, may be black, but she doesn’t understand Jade. Going to the symphony and museums and meeting new people are great, but Jade likes her friends and her neighborhood despite perceived problems. What’s wrong, she wonders, with being herself.

Piecing Me Together is very much a story of race and how it is perceived.

As much as we want to say that race doesn’t influence our experiences, it does. When you grow up learning not only what to say and how to act around the police, but also to make sure you get the whole thing on camera, that’s going shape the lens through which you view the law enforcement community. The same goes for other things I might take for granted. I’ve never been followed or asked to leave a store. I always “looked” like most of the kids I went to school with.

Even though Jade’s story isn’t one I could personally relate to as far as race goes, Piecing Me Together touches on universal elements of friendship, self-discovery. body image and financial hardship. Author Renée Watson’s prose is as bold as it is inviting. Her insights on race, class and gender are poignantly told through raw emotion. Piecing Me Together is especially timely in our current political climate. I highly recommend it to teens and adults alike.

There are many novels being published this year that are tackling tough subjects, many of which were touched upon in this novel. Each perspective is going to add something to the discussion and Piecing Me Together is one of those novels that needs to be brought up. It introduces us to Jade, a girl living in a neighborhood labeled as a 'hood' and going to a private school attended by predominately white kids.

There were many parts of this novel that tackled difficult subjects: racism, prejudice, internalized racism, privilege, identity. Looking at certain events, such as being profiled in a store at the mall because of her skin color and her body type, through the eyes of a woman of color gave me insight into situations that I'll never experience. It was hurtful and shameful to read about Jade's having to deal with these events, realizing that it's not just a book to some people, it's every day life.

One of Jade's many talents, besides her scholarly abilities, is her art. It was interesting to hear about, not only the fact that collage is an unusual kind of art to read about in a novel but because she used it to cope with the various difficulties she was working through. There was historical stories that echoed through time to her world (Lewis & Clark's journey with Sacajawea & York); police brutality that shook not only Jade but those around her in her North Portland neighborhood; Jade's personal problems in learning to speak up not only for those around her but for herself. It would be fascinating to have seen some of her collages sprinkled throughout the novel (I read an eARC so I can't comment on the final artwork of the book).

Jade not only deals with white people seeing her through their racist perception of a stereotypical black girl, a girl that couldn't possibly like classical music or speak well, but with issues within her own community. Maxine, her mentor in the Woman to Woman program, at one point talks about how her family brought her up to be proud of her heritage, but to not act black at her predominantly white school so as not to be judged anymore than she already would be because of her skin color. Maxine learns something from Jade throughout the book and comes to terms with her upbringing and how it might have clouded her judgement of Jade and the mentoring program girls.

There is also Sam, Jade's new friend that attends her school. Sam is a white girl stands in as an example of white privilege. While hanging out with Jade, there are two separate incidents that Sam directly witnesses of a racist nature and she ignores them or denies their severity when confronted. Sam is an example of what silence can do and while she does begin to learn and recognize her own privilege toward the end of the book, there is still damage done to the friendship between her and Jade.

I would have liked to hear more about the girls in the Woman to Woman program because, while we are shown how Jade doesn't fit the stereotype of the girl that would need the program, we never really hear much, if anything, about the other participants. There are briefs mentions of them at the beginning, but only by name and nothing really about their circumstances. It felt like that this would have been a good opportunity to bring in their unique stories.

Jade's family was extremely important in this book, especially her mother seeing as she was the one pushing her into the various opportunities. Her father and uncle, however, felt like underdeveloped side characters that didn't add much to the story. Her father's actual presence on the page could have just as easily been cut and her history with him made internal dialogue; her uncle E.J. didn't seem to serve any purpose at all, except maybe to illustrate how young he and Jade's mother were.

Nothing was totally solved at the end of the book. Jade made great strides in coming into her own identity as a woman of color and as an artist, but in the background there's the knowledge that the events inspiring her art are still going on. This is a stepping stone on a journey that needs discussion and sharing, not denial and erasure.

Jade believes the only way she’ll find success is to get out of her neighborhood. That’s why she accepts a scholarship to a privileged, mostly white school. It’s why she puts her studies first—no time for boys, no time for goofing around. As a girl from a poor neighborhood, Jade knows she must appreciate the opportunities that come her way, even those that treat her as less-than. When she joins a mentorship program meant to help “at-risk” (read: black) girls, Jade’s frustration mounts. How is her so-called mentor supposed to teach her anything when she doesn’t have her own life together? How are the group’s pointless activities supposed to change anything for her?

As Jade wrestles with the injustices in her life, she begins to realize the only way things will change is for her to find her own voice, to speak up, and challenge the people around her. Her courage and vulnerability make her story deeply moving and accessible. When she shares her experiences with racism with a white friend, at one point her friend sort of shrugs and says, “I don’t know what you want me to say.” Jade’s ability to articulate this response—support me, believe me, she tells her friend—opens conversation and dialogue about race relations issues.

Overall, this is a rich story. Though Jade’s experiences may be different than some readers, it’s easy to connect with her, to love her, and to understand how she feels and why. It’s easy to cheer for her victories, as a young woman and an artist. I loved that she’s a collagist, and I loved the way her art was a key component of the story. I loved the way history (the story relates some information about York, an African American man who traveled with Lewis and Clark) and poetry played a key role in the story as well.

I definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy contemporary fiction or novels about art and friendship.