A raw look at what it means to grow up as a person of color, poor in the city. Often lyrical, always that odd combination of pain and beauty. This collection of poems will be difficult to “sell” to the average teen in my library’s community, but I am certain it will find the teens who need it most.

Searing free verse and prose offer glimpses of the author’s growing up: being pulled from her single mother to enter the foster care system, being passed from home to home, being placed with the woman who would become “Mommy” just before her 8th birthday, growing up on the streets of Harlem (“There is no way to discuss Harlem’s wonder without its struggle and no way to mention its struggle without its celebration. Depending on the day, you could find Harlem somewhere between Eden and a war zone”).

León does not hold back on the “war zone” aspects, and the shootings and conversations about lynchings and “niggas” make this more appropriate for older teens and adults.

The digital arc was not formatted in a way that allowed me to see layout/ white space or illustrations, so I don’t feel that I can offer any kind of rating.

* I’M PUTTING ONE STAR IN SINCE IT WOULDNT LET ME ENTER WITHOUT PUTTING IN A STAR BUT THAT IS NOT REFLECTIVE OF MY OPINION. *

This is the first Pocket Change Collective book I’ve read, so I don’t know how it compares to the other titles.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the electronic arc.

I don't think I even have words, but hopefully these few will do: beautiful, haunting, uplifting. This poetry anthology does something many similar examples do not: leaves readers with a profound sense of hope.