This novel was so gorgeous and lush, delving into girlhood and exploring friendships, grief, and family so beautifully. Jacqueline Woodson is one hell of a writer. I shared some of my highlighted passages:

"Because even though Sylvia, Angela, Gigi and I came together like a jazz improv--half notes tentatively moving toward one another until the ensemble found its footing and the music felt like it had always been playing--we didn't have jazz to know this was who we were."

"I was eleven, the idea of two identical digits in my age was still new and spectacular and heartbreaking."

"The four of us together weren't something they understood. They understood girls alone, folding their arms across their breasts, praying for invisibility."

"My Muslim beliefs lived just left of my heart. I was leaving space for something more promising. Let her be who she's trying to become, my father said. Yeah, I said. Let me be myself."