Told in vivid and emotional poetry, this is the story of a childhood spent between New York and South Carolina, and of never truly feeling at home in either place. Of growing up as an African-American girl in the 1960s and 1970s, in the wake of the Civil Rights movement. Of discovering the first sparks of an incredible gift for writing, which would last a lifetime. And of one girl's search for her voice, her identity, and her place in the world.

Jacqueline Woodson's memoir is the winner of a US National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Award.