American Street by Ibi Zoboi

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

Fabiola Toussaint is a Haitian teenager who comes to America seeking a better life. However, there are issues at immigration, and Fabiola’s mother is detained. Fabiola, whose native language is Creole French, must travel on to Detroit without her mother. There, she stays her cousins and aunt.

Fabiola was born in America but left as an infant. For years she had dreamed of America as a land of hope and opportunity. She’s living in her aunt’s house at the corner of American Street and Joy Road in Detroit-- but she discovers that things are almost as bad as what she left in Port Au Prince: gangs, drugs, and violence.  Her three cousins -- the Three B’s-- try to give Fabiola a crash course in American life, but there are still many cultural clashes.  

Fabiola longs to be reunited with her mother, who is still detained months later, when an undercover cop offers to help reunite the two if Fabiola spills the beans on her extended family’s drug business.

American Street checks a lot of boxes: it’s gritty, it’s realistic, it’s filled with both hope and sadness. It’s a beautiful story about the American Dream that is so often both a let down and an incredible challenge. This is a literary and cultural novel that most teens will enjoy. I highly recommend you step inside Fabiola’s shoes and take a walk down American Street.