Publishers Weekly
★ 03/13/2023
Black queer teen Sadie Dixon confronts police brutality while contending with her own mental health challenges in this lyrically written verse novel by Lockington (For Black Girls Like Me). When Sadie’s girlfriend dumps her, Sadie just barely manages to wrangle her emerging panic attack until, moments later, both teens witness an act of violent racial discrimination on the streets of their Oakland, Calif., hometown. The event triggers Sadie’s anxiety disorder, causing her panic attacks to worsen and leading to her developing agoraphobia, which keeps her inside all summer. Attempting to overcome her fear, Sadie goes live on an activism app called Ruckus, starting a series about mental health and racial justice. When new neighbor Jackson, a Black transracial adoptee, moves in next door and starts watching Sadie’s broadcasts, their burgeoning romance additionally empowers her to reconnect with the outside world while allowing her to cultivate new safe spaces. Lockington steadily builds momentum via Sadie’s sharply rendered and visceral voice, making for a devastating portrayal of—and compassionate look into—one teenager’s struggles to better her mental health situation and her community. Ages 12–up. (May)
From the Publisher
SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD WINNER
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults of the Year List Selection
A Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 List Selection
“An outstanding novel in-verse that tells the story of a teenager's struggles to better both her mental health and her community. Lockington's approachable poetry covers heavy topics readers may find emotionally demanding—mental health, family dynamics, anti-Blackness, social activism, sexuality, social media, romance. The author elegantly and compassionately portrays Sadie's complicated, sensitive struggle with agoraphobia and depicts various realistic ways people might respond to the mental health of their loved ones.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Nuanced depictions of intercommunity tensions—between Sadie’s empathetic dad and her brusque mom, between her bold, activist, nonbinary best friend and her tentative, Black transracial adoptee new crush—help propel the narrative. Lockington’s real achievement here, though, is the tenderness with which she captures the utter vulnerability, strength, and beauty of a ‘sad, anxious Black girl.’ Intimately and immensely powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Black queer teen Sadie Dixon confronts police brutality while contending with her own mental health challenges in this lyrically written verse novel . . . Lockington steadily builds momentum via Sadie’s sharply rendered and visceral voice, making for a devastating portrayal of—and compassionate look into—one teenager’s struggles to better her mental health situation and her community.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This novel-in-verse depicts a range of relevant struggles for Black girls: Sadie is painfully aware of a world that is both physically dying and politically corrupt, and she’s furious that her generation is expected to save it even as the threat of racial violence means she could be the next person whose name gets chanted at protests. Notably, Lockington equally emphasizes Sadie’s cherishing of sources of Black joy . . . Sadie is a character readers will root for as she overcomes her first heartbreak, advances with her therapy enough to attend the protest march, and finds her voice: 'I am a sad, anxious Black girl./ And all I have are these fists,/ telling a fury tale.'" —The Bulletin, starred review
“Lockington effectively mixes verse narration with social media posts to create an authentic teenage narrator. She thoughtfully explores mental health, sexuality (Sadie is bisexual), family, anti-Blackness, Black girl joy, and activism.'" —Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-02-25
In the aftermath of yet another incident of police brutality, a teen tries to find her way forward.
Sadie was already managing generalized anxiety when, while being dumped by the girlfriend who made her feel safe, she witnesses police violently attacking another Black girl. The events trigger a debilitating panic that prevents her from leaving home, even to attend the protest that she wants to participate in. Instead of spending the summer interning at the local creative writing center, Sadie has to relearn how to exist in the world as a bisexual Black person with anxiety and agoraphobia and, eventually, how to use her voice, find joy, and move beyond the safety of her home. Despite the physically contained setting of the majority of the book—Sadie initially struggles to even reach the backyard—her Oakland, California, community is richly and authentically textured, with most of the characters cued as Black or brown. Verse narration is intercut with text from Sadie’s social media posts, effectively capturing the nature of contemporary organizing and community-building. Nuanced depictions of intercommunity tensions—between Sadie’s empathetic dad and her brusque mom, between her bold, activist, nonbinary best friend and her tentative, Black transracial adoptee new crush—help propel the narrative. Lockington’s real achievement here, though, is the tenderness with which she captures the utter vulnerability, strength, and beauty of a “sad, anxious Black girl.”
Intimately and immensely powerful. (Verse fiction. 12-18)
