My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi

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My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich is written by Ibi Zoboi tells about a moving and hilarious story of girl finding a place and a voice in a world that's changing at warp speed. [1]

Summary

In the summer of 1984, 12-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet makes the journey from Huntsville, Alabama, to Harlem, where she'll stay a few weeks with her father while her mother trying to handle some trouble that's arisen for Ebony-Grace's beloved grandfather, Jeremiah. Jeremiah Norfleet is a bit of a celebrity in Huntsville, where he was one of the first black engineers to integrate NASA two decades earlier. And ever since his granddaughter came to live with him when she was little, he's nurtured her love of all things outer space and science fiction--especially Star Wars and Star Trek, both of which she's watched dozens of time on Grandaddady's Betamax machine. So even as Ebony-Grace struggled to make friends among her peers, she could always rely on her grandfather and the imaginary worlds they created together. In Harlem, however, she faces a whole new challenge. Harlem in 1984 is an exciting and terrifying place for a sheltered girl from Hunstville, and her first instinct is to retreat into her fantasy. But soon after she arrives in 126th Street she begins to reveal that it has more in common with her beloved sci-fi adventures than she ever thought available, and by summer's end, Ebony-Grace discovers that gritty and graffitied Harlem has a place for a girl whose eyes are always on the stars. [2]

Pros

This is an interesting story about family troubles, friend troubles, and finding your place in community. It is quintessentially middle grade. It is a good book to have on hand for voracious readers of this story type. It takes place in the mid 1980s and is about an African American girl whose grandfather was one of the first African American NASA engineers. From him she has inherited a love for science-fiction and fantasy. Over a summer, she must learn to live without him as she visits her father in Harlem. The narration of this is tricky for several reasons. It is first person, and therefore extremely limited to the things the main character knows and her view of them. [3]

References