Salt the Water

A MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD HONOR BOOK • After a fight with a teacher escalates out of control, a young teen drops out of high school to pursue their dream of living off grid and escaping capitalistic society—but sometimes life has other plans that get in the way.

“A heartfelt lament for what America could be but chooses not to.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“This unflinching portrayal of the necessary irreverence of Black teenagers on a complicated quest for self-actualization is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.”—Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down

Cerulean Gene is free everywhere except school, where they’re known for repeatedly challenging authority. Raised in a free-spirited home by two loving parents who encourage Cerulean to be their full self, they’ve got big dreams of moving cross-country to live off the grid with their friends after graduation. But a fight with a teacher spirals out of control, and Cerulean impulsively drops out to avoid the punishment they fear is coming. Why wait for graduation to leave an oppressive capitalist system and live their dreams?

Cerulean is truly brilliant, but their sheltered upbringing hasn’t prepared them for the consequences of their choice—especially not when it’s compounded by a family emergency that puts a parent out of work. Suddenly the money they’d been stacking with their friends is a resource that the family needs to stay afloat.

Salt the Water is a book about dreaming in a world that has other plans for your time, your youth, and your future. It asks, what does it look like when a bunch of queer Black kids are allowed to dream? And what does it look like for them to confront the present circumstances of the people they love while still pursuing a wildly different future of their own?