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American Street
by Ibi Zoboi
Sixteen-year-old Fabiola has just moved to Detroit from Haiti. She arrives in New York with her mother who is immediately detained by immigration authorities. This painful separation drives the complex plot of this rewarding novel. Fabiola, who is an American citizen because she was born in Detroit, continues on to her birthplace to live with her Aunt Jo and her three cousins, Chantal, Pri, and Donna. Fabiola enrolls in school and becomes involved in her new community. We never leave Detroit in the plot of this book, but Haiti is never far from the center of the story. The religion of Haiti, voudou, is a frame that Fabiola uses to make sense of her new home, mainly in the form of a man called Bad Leg who appears from time to time to dispense poetic wisdom. Fabiola sees him as Papa Legba, one of the central Iwa of Haitian voudou. Papa Legba stands at the crossroads as Fabiola implores him to allow her mother to gain entry into the US. The book describes two very different love stories: one intense and violent, the other brand new and viewed through rose-colored lenses. The plot intensifies as the author draws us toward tragedy, but the beauty of this book is Zoboi’s ability to immerse us in the world of her engaging protagonist.
American Street has a Lexile score of HL690L and an ATOS score of 4.4, which gives it a 2nd-3rd grade complexity according to Common Core standards. However, the more mature topics (drug trade, immigration detention, sex, violence against women, and the painful relationship between African Americans and the police) and strong language this book includes makes it a much better fit for high school readers. American Street is a quick, engaging read that might interest many different readers when used as a classroom or an independent read. The scenes in the high school feel as appropriately confusing and exciting as my 45-year-old mind remembers them.
I enjoyed reading this book. It feels engaging and real, from the tough reality of the West Detroit neighborhood that Fabiola has landed in, to the story of a teenager making her way in a new culture. My favorite part of the book is the author’s excellent character development with Fabiola: she has to balance her desire to fix her mother’s situation with her love and loyalty to her new family and community. I’m in school to become an English teacher, so my reading journey is entering a new phase as I explore new material for my classroom. American Street is my first step down that path, and I found it to be a compelling book that is well worth the read.
American Street has a Lexile score of HL690L and an ATOS score of 4.4, which gives it a 2nd-3rd grade complexity according to Common Core standards. However, the more mature topics (drug trade, immigration detention, sex, violence against women, and the painful relationship between African Americans and the police) and strong language this book includes makes it a much better fit for high school readers. American Street is a quick, engaging read that might interest many different readers when used as a classroom or an independent read. The scenes in the high school feel as appropriately confusing and exciting as my 45-year-old mind remembers them.
I enjoyed reading this book. It feels engaging and real, from the tough reality of the West Detroit neighborhood that Fabiola has landed in, to the story of a teenager making her way in a new culture. My favorite part of the book is the author’s excellent character development with Fabiola: she has to balance her desire to fix her mother’s situation with her love and loyalty to her new family and community. I’m in school to become an English teacher, so my reading journey is entering a new phase as I explore new material for my classroom. American Street is my first step down that path, and I found it to be a compelling book that is well worth the read.