When D Foster walks into Neeka and her best friend’s lives, their world opens up. D doesn’t have a “real” mom constantly telling her what to do, and the girls envy her independence. But D wants nothing more than to feel connected, and the three girls form a tight bond—and a passion for the music of Tupac Shakur. D’s the one who understands Tupac’s songs best, and through her, his lyrics become more personal for all of them.
After Tupac is shot the first time, the girls are awed by how he comes back stronger than ever. And seeing how Tupac keeps on keeping on helps when Neeka’s brother is wrongly sent to jail and D’s absent mom keeps disappointing. But by the time Tupac is shot again, the girls have turned thirteen and everything’s changed, except their belief in finding their Big Purpose.
Newbery Honor winner Jacqueline Woodson’s compelling and inspiring story shows us how music touches our lives, how much life can be lived in a short time, and how all—too—brief connections can touch us to the core and remain a part of us forever.
Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, is the author of Feathers, Newbery Honor winner Show Way, Miracle’s Boys (recipient of a Coretta Scott King Award and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize), Locomotion and Hush (both National Book Award finalists), among many others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Read an Excerpt
The summer before D Foster’s real mama came and took her away, Tupac wasn’t dead yet. He’d been shot five times—two in the head, two down by his leg and thing and one shot that went in his hand and came out the other side and went through a vein or something. All the doctors were saying he should have died and were bringing other doctors up to his room to show everybody what a medical miracle he was. That’s what they called him. A Medical Miracle. Like he wasn’t even a real person. Like he was just something to be looked at and turned this way and that way and poked at. Like he wasn’t Tupac. (Continues…)
