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    Piecing Me Together
    Piecing Me Together
    Piecing Me Together
    Audiobook5 hours

    Piecing Me Together

    Written by Renée Watson

    Narrated by Renée Watson

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner New York Times bestseller

    Acclaimed author Renee Watson offers a powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it's trying to break her.

    Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn't really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She's tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix. Jade wants to speak, to create, to express her joys and sorrows, her pain and her hope. Maybe there are some things she could show other women about understanding the world and finding ways to be real, to make a difference.

    NPR's Best Books of 2017
    A 2017 New York Public Library Best Teen Book of the Year
    Chicago Public Library's Best Books of 2017
    A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017
    Kirkus Reviews' Best Teen Books of 2017
    2018 Josette Frank Award Winner
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 6, 2018
    ISBN9781501997853
    Author

    Renée Watson

    Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her children’s picture books and novels for teens have received several awards and international recognition. Her picture books include A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, Summer Is Here, and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Renée grew up in Oregon and splits her time between Portland and Harlem.

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    Reviews for Piecing Me Together

    4.5/5

    294 ratings25 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an astonishing, inspiring, and beautifully written book. It explores themes of self-discovery, identity, social justice, and the challenges faced by black teenage girls. The characters are authentic and the narration is lovely. The book is highly recommended for young girls of color and high school students, as it provides hope, assurance, and a greater understanding of different experiences. Overall, it is a stunning read that offers both mirrors and windows into the lives of its characters.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This was an incredibly inspiring story about the regular life of a regular black girl. I would recommend it to everyone. It would be an ideal book for a high school book club but also perfect for someone who just wants to read about a black girl living her life and making the most of it, with the challenges that come with it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Absolutely beautiful and incredible! I love the way it’s written.
    • 5/5
      This was such a good book especially for teens black teenage girls all over should take the time to read this!
    • 5/5
      Speak up and let your voice be heard. You can’t bring change or make someone aware of you stay silent. Silence is what kept this country in oppression for years. Be heard.
      This book was amazing. Jade discovered the many pieces that make up who she is. She learned how to speak up for self especially when she felt she was being wronged.
    • 5/5
      This is a great novel for young girls of color!
    • 5/5
      It's a really great book, i would recommend this to anyone!
    • 5/5
      Loved this book. I'd recommend it to all high school students, whether it would be a mirror to their experience or would be a window into a world different from their own. Beautifully written.
    • 5/5
      If you want me to describe this book in one simple word it would definitely be: astonishing. I'm completely speechless by how amazing now only the writing and the plot was, but also every single issue and element that the author wanted to convey through her every word.
    • 5/5
      Lovely, light, relevant, inclusive, deliberate and gives hope and assurance for a greater tomorrow if we all do our bits
    • 4/5
      I appreciate the way the author weaves stories of self discovery with the power dynamics of family, community, race/gender identity, class, girlhood, language , social justice, and politics. However, sometimes it seems to complex and preachy for teens. Overall I appreciate the authenticity of the characters.
    • 5/5
      This was an absolute stunning read!! Beautiful narration as well, highly recommend it.
    • 5/5
      I found this book very moving, raw, honest. Sometimes uncomfortable. I really appreciate the truths that Jade has to tell and how she finds a way to share her thoughts with her school and her friends and her community. I also really like how her adults (mother, mentor) hold her accountable for her own success. I appreciate how they push her to not quit and to find a way through difficult situations. The overt racism Jade experiences is an eye opener to me, as a privileged person, and I think Renee Watson does a beautiful job showing us both sides of a conversation -- both Jade's hurt fury and Sam's bewildered embarrassment. I feel like this book offers a road map on some hard issues and does an extremely good job in painting the grey areas -- the gap of wealth and poverty isn't strictly along race lines, and there is something to learn from every character in the book. It's a celebration of diversity and of endurance.
    • 5/5
      Piecing Me Together is an important book about a young woman trying to find herself despite the obstacles that are placed in front of her. This book means a lot to me because there were not a lot of coming-of-age books for young black girls, I am happy to see more of those stories being told. It is important for all students to feel seen and heard by the media and I think this book is a great avenue for representation. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it as it made me feel seen in so many relatable aspects. A truly wonderful book.
    • 4/5
      diverse teen fiction (newbery honor and Coretta Scott King award winner) - 11th-grade black teen who is "curvy" and from an underprivileged single-parent family in Portland, OR, makes friends, joins a mentorship program (in exchange for a college scholarship) and learns to speak up for herself and for others.
    • 4/5
      This Newbery and Printz honor book is well worth the accolades. Jaade's mother is poor. She works a job that barely pays the rent and puts food on the table.

      Jade is highly intelligent, and she won a scholarship to attend a different highschool -- one where children of rich parents attend.

      She learns how to navigate through the rules of the new school and learns how to keep her own identity and self worth while knowing she is different from thee others. She takes a bus across town to her new school.

      When she is chosen for a mentorship program titled Woman to Woman, she is paired with a woman who, like her attended the school where she originally didn't belong.

      Jade is a strong young lady. The story is told from her perspective. She is very adept at noticing the phrases used by the students who never had to worry about where to eat, and the many things they never have to worry about. Attending the Woman to Woman program meetings serve food. And, Jade learns to slip food in a napkin to take home to her mother and uncle to share

      This book shines a light on the haves and the have nots, and while Jade wants to go to college, she does not want to compromise the core of good that makes her the wonderful person she is.
    • 5/5
      Watson gives us authentic insight into a black girl’s hopes, fears and dreams. She carefully, authentically deals with race and body image issues. Using Spanish titles for each chapter (and the story behind it) helps us understand that loving and learning about ourselves as racial, gendered beings and appreciating the lives of others is not mutually exclusive.
    • 4/5
       This book is quietly more raw than "The Hate U Give." Jade lives in a Portland 'hood and attends a private school on full scholarship. She knows that opportunity will help her succeed and she's been offered and taken advantage of many, including a mentor with Woman to Woman. She contrasts her life with her mother's, who works long hours as a home health aide but keeps tabs on Jade's life. Jade is uncomfortable with being perceived as someone who needs help, rather than someone who has strengths to offer. Teens of color may find that Jade's voice perfectly captures what they are going through. Adults with good intentions of supporting "marginalized" communities and youth would do well to read this book and rethink how they approach their "good works."
    • 5/5
      This is a beautifully written novel about teens that should find a broader audience beyond YA. Jade, an African American girl from a poor neighborhood, wins admission to a private school where she is vastly outnumbered by privileged white kids. Many novels have dealt with the difficulty of code switching between contrasting communities of diverse income levels, but Jade keeps her steady feet in both and learns how to handle some of the situations and contradictions that arise. She's got strong support from her mother and from two friends, but when she is turned down for a study abroad program, the rejection threatens to derail her motivation. When Jade's chosen as a mentee by a volunteer group of successful black women, she wonders why she's only chosen for activities that attempt to uplift her rather than rewarding her for her hard work. The novel also wisely focuses on Jade's talent as a budding collage artist, and so incorporates the important nature of creativity and artistic passion as the engine of a happy and productive life. This novel is as inspirational as its main character. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      An interesting book, and very clear-cut. How do you make the best of opportunities, when they are all thrown at you, but some of them make you feel like a broken apart doll?
      A straightforward book, but with a nice resolution, characters, and depth.
    • 5/5
      Jade is driven and has a mom who forces her to take advantage of every opportunity she is offered. During her junior year at a private school far from her Portland neighborhood, she gets involved in a mentorship program. During the course of the year, she really thinks about her identity, what it means to be a black girl learning to navigate different worlds, learns to think about how to speak up and advocate for herself. Beautiful, powerful writing. She uses her art to explore her feelings and things she is thinking about and learns to talk to friends and family about the tough stuff.
    • 4/5
      This was a great story conveying the nuances of racism and classism in America. It was easy to sympathize with the main character and her ups and downs as a teenager illustrated the ideas the author wanted to convey. It was also fun to read a book set in Portland with lots of very specific details. Some things annoyed me: Maxine the mentor didn't seem like good mentor material--how would she have been vetted and approved for that program? She was unemployed and irresponsible. The mentor program also wasn't entirely convincing--mentors and mentees should not have been allowed in each others' homes--meetings should all have been in public places. Isn't that a given rule in most mentorship/student-teacher relationships? I also kept wondering who the other students in the mentorship program were--other black kids? But i thought there weren't many at the school. White kids? poor kids? Also I didn't think there were many at the school, and then why would Jade have felt singled out as the one always needing charity if there's a whole group? With all the details of Portland and the little bit of history of Lewis and Clark i was really surprised the author didn't bring up the fact that Portland is one of the whitest cities in the country due to the state's history of exclusionary laws. And then at the end when Jade asks for an internship at the art gallery and Mia says "yes I have 2 paid internships" I laughed out loud. If she had interns they probably wouldn't be paid. If they were paid, they'd go to over qualified college grads.
    • 4/5
      The story of a high school girl living in the poor part of town but commuting to a private school in another part of town on scholarship, trying to balance both worlds and her place in each while negotiating her role within the opportunities she's given and those she makes for herself. She struggles to find her own voice through her interactions with others and through her art.
      I enjoyed this one, and I suspect that it would be a great read for many high school kids for the world that it explores and the inspiration it could bring.
    • 5/5
      A realistic fiction novel, Piecing Me Together, is a 2018 Lone Star selection. I didn’t want to read this novel because of the cover. Once you read the book, you understand the cover, but it doesn’t make one want to read it. It’s really good, so I highly recommend it.

      Jade is from a poor family, but she is smart and attends a prestigious school that should lead her to achieve more than others in a similar situation. Her mother truly loves her and makes decisions to keep her safe. She tries hard to ensure there’s food and something for special occasions, but her mother’s promises are “fragile and break easily” (8). Jade’s friends are mostly from her neighborhood, so she’s separates herself at school from the rich kids. She works hard in her Spanish class because she wants to go on mission trip.

      The novel shows Jade’s life at school and home--the differences between those who have and those who have not. What I like is that her friends at home aren’t jealous of her. They want her to succeed and support her art. Jade loves to create art through objects she finds--found art. She also makes a friend at school who doesn’t live far from her, so she understands Jade’s life more. Sam, however, can’t always see that life is different for a black girl than a white girl.

      Her school also supports her but more as a charity case in Jade’s eyes. She feels that they expect her to be thankful for all the opportunities they give her that she feels she has earned. She wants earned respect, not a hand out. One opportunity is to be given a mentor--a black woman who has done well in the world who graduated from the school. Maxine doesn’t seem to be a great mentor, but one gets a scholarship to college after two years. Jade can’t turn that down.

      This is a novel of perceptions--how we perceive others and their motivations. Jade appreciates the opportunity to attend her school, but she wants to be heard and treated like a person, but learning to speak up in order to be heard can take courage. This is a novel well worth your time; it’s well-written, engaging, and just a good book.
    • 5/5
      This book is quiet, yet powerful.

      I love that I was able to just *be* with Jade.

      It's so nice to read a story about a black girl that's not high stakes, drama driven, full of black pain. Instead, we are given glimpses into Jade's world, her life, her mind. And those glimpses help us journey along with Jade as she grows strong and becomes brave enough to use her voice.

      I wish I'd had this when I was a teen.

      I'm glad I have it now.

      It'll stay with me for a long time.
    • 3/5
      "Piecing Me Together" was a gentle read about a young, African-American trying to find her place in the world. Jade was a believable character, although she did feel sorry for herself at times. However, through her journey of self-discovery and personal growth, Jade found her voice. While this book didn't really pack any punches it was still a solid read dealing with racism, prejudice and identity.
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