Things I loved:

📚Instead of a 'find your inner strength' story, this was about a young girl who is sure in her strength, her intelligence, and her potential, and the story was about her finding the support and resources she needs to achieve what she wants to

📚There were a lot of very dark themes and topics in this book, and they were written with sensitivity and weight but without overwhelming the main story which I think is rare!

📚The emphasis on the importance of education all the way through this book was *chef's kiss*

📚The narrative was written in the main character's own dialect rather than in standard English

Things that didn't quite do it for me:

📚This book didn't really hold my attention, it was hard for me to stay focused on it for long

📚(This is a very minor thing) but there were some moments that felt a bit on-the-nose, including the classic "it's not history, it's her-story"

Overall:

A very good read, filled with important and interesting ideas. It reminded me of the sort of thing we would read in Carnegie club back in school - I know if I'd read this back in KS3 I would have absolutely loved it. There should be a copy of this in every school library! Overall rating of 4.5⭐