Granted

American Street 
Ibi Zoboi
Review by Lori Tnkjian 

Taking things for Granted. A phrase we usually don’t think twice about, until we lose something we love.
In American Street by Ibi Zoboi, the second half of the book takes an unexpected turn. Refer to my first blog post for more details on the beginning of the book. Fabiola, the main character, has been living in Detroit with her cousins and aunt for a couple months, while her mother is detained in New Jersey. She has been living her life as “a normal American teenager” (103). She gets a boyfriend, makes a couple friends, and gets involved in drama, until one day, the drama gets too much. This detective has been following Fabiola around telling her if she helps her get Dray put in jail, she will get her mother out of New Jersey and here with her in Detroit. Drey is Donna's boyfriend but Donna is Fabiola’s cousin. Fabiola agrees, but she is betraying her family, she is taking what she knows about them for granted. “Its proof. It's what I need to get my Manman home”(185). Fabiola is agreeing with throwing her cousins boyfriend under the bus, by calling the detective and telling her what is going on, to get her mother home. She is taking away something Donna loves a lot. But will karma strike? Will it work out in her favor? Will she lose the ones she loves forever?
After finishing the second half of the book, I highly recommend American Street to other readers. The rush you get from wanting to know what is going to happen next is unbearable. The book has a great concept behind it, but is very easy to read and understand. "The 4 bees" (154) life is very interesting, that is why the book never gets boring. The author always wants to keep the readers on their feet, and she is doing a great job of doing that. It’s an ultimately blistering tale of humanity. You just can’t get enough of it. When I finished the book, I was genuinely sad because I enjoyed every single word so much. Another reason why I love the book was because I felt like I really connected with the main character, Fabiola. Her life, her story, I feel like I can relate to it. I also think many other teenagers would be able to connect to Fabiola, that’s why I recommend you READ THIS BOOK. If you like S.E. Hinton's classic The Outsiders, this is the book for you. Trust me.
The theme of this book is really what has been wrapped around it. “I am not a pebble in the valley. I am a mountain” (324). Those two sentences have so much meaning to them. More than one would think. Fabiola has been through so much in the past couple months living in Detroit. Not seeing her mother, drama, family issues, it all just adds up. But even after all of that, she still stands strong and doesn’t let anyone knock her down, like a mountain. I think everyone should be a mountain. Stuff gets rough, but at the end of the day, your still here, like a Mountain after a tornado.







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