I wish I'd had a book like this when I was an adolescent. It's a good story and it's well written, but portraying a family that is poor and loving is important. It's also a story featuring a teenager who is aware of her circumstances and what she wants to do to change those circumstances, though she certainly fumbles along the way. It feels quite real and messy, and I liked that.

Kyla Garcia does a strong job narrating the book--her reading is young and smart but not unpleasantly precocious. She did pronounce the street name Devon incorrectly, and that pulled me out of the Chicago-ness of it all. But that's a picky detail (and lasted half a second) and easy to ignore.