Part of Me: Stories of a Louisiana Family

A Stone in My Hand

The Year of the Three Sisters

The Sittin' Up

When Heaven Fell

The Closest I've Come

Cures for Heartbreak

Don't Ask Me Where I'm From

"The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone."

Karina has plenty to worry about on the last day of seventh finding three Ds and a C on her report card again, getting laughed at by everyone again, being sent to the principal -- again. She'd like this to change, but with her and her sisters dodging their stepfather's fists every day after school, she doesn't have time to do much self-reflecting. Finally her stepfather is taken away on child abuse charges, and Karina thinks things might turn into something resembling normal. The problem is, he's not gone for good. And as Karina becomes closer with a girl at the community center where her stepfather is not showing up for his parenting classes, she starts to realize a couple things. First, for all the problems her family had tried to escape by immigrating from Haiti, they brought most of them along to upstate New York. And second, if anything is going to change for this family, it is going to be up to Karina and her sisters to make it happen.

M. Sindy Felin's debut novel is the story of a young girl's coming-of-age amid the violent waters that run just beneath the surface of suburbia -- a story that has the courage to How far will you go to protect the ones you love?

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Part of Me: Stories of a Louisiana Family

Kimberly Willis Holt, Kate Reading, 2006

A Stone in My Hand

Cathryn Clinton, 2002

The Year of the Three Sisters

Patrice Barton, Andrea Cheng, 2015

The Sittin' Up

Shelia P. Moses, 2014

When Heaven Fell

Carolyn Marsden, 2007

The Closest I've Come

Fred Aceves, 2017

Cures for Heartbreak

Margo Rabb, 2007

Don't Ask Me Where I'm From

Jennifer De Leon, Elena Garnu, 2020