By Amber McBride
New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 348 pages.
In 2111, a Black girl called Inmate Eleven has spent her whole life in a small cell. She has never been outside, has never seen the sun, has never met another person with Black skin. Everything she knows about the world she has learned from Miss Abby, a pale-skinned Clone who has taught her that there is a virus outside and she will not survive without a vaccine -- which she can only earn once she proves herself. She lives in a place called the Bible Boot where Black children, called Blues, are made to live separately from the pale-skinned Clones. Inmate Eleven's only real companion is her genetically modified wolf named Ira who occasionally 'goes wolf' as if he remembers what its like to be wild. As Inmate Eleven learns more about the systemic racism in the Bible Boot, she realizes that she must fight to get out and survive. Meanwhile, back in 2022 a 12-year old Black girl named Imogen is coming to terms with trauma from COVID-19 and from racially motivated violence and is describing her whole story to a therapist. As the stories of past and present collide, they result in a gripping narrative.
This upper middle grade novel is profound and incredibly raw. The harsh, dystopic setting of Inmate Eleven's story serves as a shocking foil to Imogen's world to offer a look at systemic racism gone unchecked. The central theme of grief makes for an understandably weighty read, best suited for more mature middle grade readers and those who have a trusted adult to have the hard conversations that will inevitably happen. Timely, horrifying, and brilliantly told, this difficult novel is one that will sit with readers for a long time.
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