A book review by Sophia Taylor (American Street by IBI ZOBOI)
America, “The Promised Land.” This is what Fabiola Toussaint and her mom thought. Sadly, Fabiola was the only one to cross as her mother was detained by the U.S immigration. Fabiola has three cousins and one aunt. Two cousins are tweens. Their names are Donna and Princess. The other cousin is Chantal. She is the older one and first child. They all live in Detroit West on American Street.
Fabiola discovers that all her cousins are different and that life in America is the same as life in, Port-au-Prince Haiti. There are gangs, drugs, and the poor people. Her cousin Princess is a tom-Boy and likes girls and goes by Pri. Donna is the pretty one and loves make up and wigs. She goes by "D" and she has a boyfriend that is named Dray. Together they go by "D,D" which is dungeon and dragon. Drake is the Dungeon and Donna is the dragon.
Chantal is the smart one that knows right from wrong. She was going to go to a University like Stanford or Brown but ends up going to a community college. The aunt is quiet and very, very sick.
While Chantal is going to college, she has a love life, and goes thru a lot with her cousins. They lose things they love and end up trying to make a new life away from American Street and their past.