I truly felt like I had learned a lot from this book. It was a book about an African American girl who goes to a predominantly white school. She is given a mentor who also graduated from there, and who also happens to be black. So the crux of the book is the reader learning or recognizing how often well-meaning gestures or words are not very nice if we think about it. For instance, the protagonist wants to go to the service trip. But instead she is chosen for the mentor group as a benefit. Why can't she help others rather than feeling like she always needs help? Who makes those assumptions? Also, I think that the issue of socio-economic status is very valuable in this book, for all races. But this is what I appreciate and feel like I can change about myself- it's not necessarily about those events that we hear about with shooting unarmed people. It's about those daily words and attitudes that we need to check ourselves on.
I just didn't like the voice of the main character. For a girl in high school she sounded like she was in middle school. That was my only problem with the book.