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Zusatztext "Skillfully tackles topics of race! class! and violence in a moving testament to family and friendship! love and loss! and the power of forgiveness."— Publishers Weekly "A tender! accomplished story about the coming-of-age of a girl whose good intentions are challenged by uncertainties and her efforts to do what is right! even when that's frightening and painful."— Booklist "An engrossing and accessible first-person narrative! Pieces of Why deftly challenges stereotypes while addressing the critical need for young people to connect to adults they can trust to help them make meaning of the complex world around them…Readers who like realistic fiction will appreciate the story’s authenticity! as will those looking for literature reflecting the daily challenges of their own lives."— VOYA "[A] compelling and sensitive exploration of self-determination and coming of age."— BCCB Informationen zum Autor K. L. Going (klgoing.com) lives with her family in the Hudson Valley area of New York State. Since graduating from college she has worked as an adult literacy tutor, a ticket agent for a major airline, a front desk clerk at a resort hotel, and an assistant in a Manhattan literary agency. She has lived in Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and New York. K.L. is the author of many books, including Fat Kid Rules The World , The Liberation of Gabriel King , and Dog in Charge . Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World , was a YALSA Michael L. Printz honor book. Visit her on Twitter @KLGoing. Klappentext From the award winning author of Fat Kid Rules the World and The Liberation of Gabriel King comes a lyrical gem that asks all the hard questions and hits all the right notes--perfect for fans of Cynthia Rylant and Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine Tia lives with her mom in a high-risk neighborhood in New Orleans and loves singing gospel in the Rainbow Choir with Keisha, her boisterous and assertive best friend. Tia's dream is to change the world with her voice; and by all accounts, she might be talented enough. But when a shooting happens in her neighborhood and she learns the truth about the crime that sent her father to prison years ago, Tia finds she can't sing anymore. The loss prompts her to start asking the people in her community hard questions--questions everyone has always been too afraid to ask. "Skillfully tackles topics of race, class, and violence in a moving testament to family and friendship, love and loss, and the power of forgiveness."-Publishers Weekly CHAPTER 1 Certain days ought to come with warning notices. WARNING: This day will be hazardous to your health. Instead, most days start out normal. Maybe even better than normal. Which is so much worse. I woke up feeling good. It was Thursday, and that meant choir practice. More than anything, I wanted to be a great singer. Not a rock star, but a singer who’d change the world with my voice, like Nina Simone, Whitney Houston, Adele, or Mahalia Jackson. I wanted my music to make people stop in their tracks. Of course, seeing as I was only twelve and poor as dirt, that was a universe away, but if my voice teacher, Ms. Marion, had taught me anything, it was that even the most unlikely person could succeed. “Didn’t the great Mahalia grow up in a house right here in New Orleans with thirteen people under one roof?” she said. “Didn’t she have to leave school in the fourth grade because her family couldn’t afford to send her anymore? If a black girl could rise up in the early 1900s when everything was against her, then a skinny little white girl like you hasn’t got any excuse.” So I kept one of those tear-off calendars beside my bed and the last thing I did every night was to rip off that day’s page. It was a dumb calendar with facts about cars from a box of leftovers Ma hadn’t bee...
