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Jade knows she has to get out of her neighborhood if she’s ever going to succeed. She’s already accepted a scholarship at a mostly white private school, tutors classmates on the weekends, and is now attending a mentorship program called Women for Women in hopes of gaining a scholarship to college, but some of these “opportunities” feel more demeaning than helpful.
Women to Women, for example, states that it is a program for “at-risk” girls, but really it’s for black girls from “bad” neighborhoods. Just because Jade’s mentor, Maxine, is black too doesn’t mean she understands what Jade is going through. In fact, Maxine seems a little lost herself, so how can she teach Jade the things that really matter? And who determined in the first place that Jade was someone who needed fixing?
Jade isn’t the kind of girl who needs support. In fact, all she’s ever wanted is an opportunity to give what she can offer to others and not be seen as someone always in need. She’s not at-risk or oblivious to what’s happening in the world, and in the end, she just wants to find a way to make a real difference.
Renee Watson offers a unique, almost artistic, writing style and perspective in Piecing Me Together, and she pulls in some strong, powerful themes about not quitting on yourself and learning to speak up. While the story is eye-opening in some regards, I also found it to be a little unsetting, featuring varying facets of racism and some hard topics that give the reader much to think about even after closing the book.
Rated: Moderate, for hard topics of poverty, neglect, divorce, violence, and racism. There are a few uses of the name of Deity and two uses of moderate language. Female body parts are referenced in regards to a college awareness play about rape, sex, etc. There are also several sexual innuendos and crude interactions the character experiences with others.
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