Nigeria Jones
A Novel
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- $20.99
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner!
“An unwavering proclamation of Black girlhood.” —Candice Iloh, author of National Book Award finalist Every Body Looking
From Ibi Zoboi, bestselling, award-winning author of American Street and coauthor of Punching the Air, comes a bold new YA coming-of-age story that explores race, feminism, and complicated family dynamics. The ideal next read for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Jacqueline Woodson, and Roxane Gay.
Warrior Princess. That’s what Nigeria Jones’s father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch of their Movement—disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want.
Nigeria’s mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father’s disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. There, she begins to flourish and expand her universe.
As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.
From award-winning author Ibi Zoboi comes a powerful story about discovering who you are in the world—and fighting for that person—by having the courage to be your own revolution.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sixteen-year-old Nigeria Jones explores complex relationships with her famous freedom-fighter father and her all-Black commune in this striking portrait by Zoboi (Star Child). All her life, Nigeria has been homeschooled by teachers in the Movement, a Black activist community created by her father. But a year after her mother abruptly leaves, Nigeria learns that she wanted Nigeria to attend a majority-white Quaker high school, contrary to her father's wishes and the Movement's teachings and ideals. Nigeria chooses to attend anyway, and this decision causes ripple effects throughout her community and proves to have drastic implications for her relationship with her dad. These first steps outside her comfort zone help Nigeria learn more about who she is and who she might want to become, and with that knowledge comes a new understanding of what it means to choose one's own life path. Through Nigeria's powerfully resonant first-person voice, Zoboi's mesmerizing storytelling soars. The novel's chapter headers and narrative structure recall the framework of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, providing a fitting foundation for thorough interrogations of love and loyalty, personal and communal history, spirituality, and white supremacy and misogyny. Ages 13–up.
