The Chosen One
A First-Generation Ivy League Odyssey
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This memoir filled with “overwhelming emotions and power” (The Mary Sue) testifies to the disappointments and triumphs of a Black first-generation college student in a predominantly white institution.
There are many watchers and they are always white. That’s the first thing Echo notices as she settles into Dartmouth College. Despite graduating high school in Cleveland as valedictorian, Echo immediately struggles to keep up in demanding classes. Dartmouth made many promises it couldn't keep. The campus is not a rainbow-colored utopia where education lifts every voice. Nor is it a paradise of ideas, an incubator of inclusivity, or even an exciting dating scene. But it might be a portal to different dimensions of time and space—only accessible if Echo accepts her calling as a Chosen One and takes charge of her future by healing her past. This remarkable challenge demands vulnerability, humility, and the conviction to ask for help without sacrificing self-worth. In mesmerizing personal narrative and magical realism, Echo Brown confronts mental illness, grief, racism, love, friendship, ambition, self-worth, and belonging as they steer the fates of first-generation college students at Dartmouth. The Chosen One is an unforgettable coming-of-age story that bravely unpacks the double-edged college transition—as both catalyst for old wounds and a fresh start.
Finalist for the Ohioana Book Award
A Mary Sue Best YA Novel of the Year
2022 Catalyst Award Nominee for Best Memoir
A Junior Library Guild Selection
★ “Powerful and vulnerable"—Booklist, starred review
★"The story asks readers to examine the various intersections of their own identities as they reflect upon the circumstances that shape Echo’s reality . . .Echo and her crew will defy the many odds stacked against them."
―BCCB, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brown's (Black Girl Unlimited) autobiographical sophomore novel weaves magical realism and mentions of Star Wars mythology into the collegiate experience of Echo, a Black student whose aim to succeed at Dartmouth becomes a quest to overcome personal trauma and broad cosmic forces. Working-class Echo, a Cleveland native, hopes to live the life promised in Ivy League brochures, but encounters anti-Blackness and professors with low expectations of her on the largely wealthy and white campus; she also worries about family back home, where "a day is just a bookmark between tragedies." After falling for white junior Bryce and with him attending the annual performance of a hypnotist who calls her "the Chosen One," Echo begins seeing twisting portals on walls and having visions that keep coming true. When a harrowing sight in the woods uproots buried personal and generational trauma, Echo starts on a path toward unlocking her true calling. Though the imaginative story's magical elements take a while to hit their stride, Echo's internality is rife with tender ruminations—on independence, fear of failure, and mental health—explored with vigor alongside themes of healing, forgiveness, and the human need to be and feel loved. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
Waiting for the next 1
Wow! I read this in 4 days. Right after I finished Black Girl Unlimited. These pages are lined with wisdom & encouragement. Must read