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.
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