All the while thinking of ways to get any bit of information on her mothers status & how she can get her out of the detention center. While in Detroit she tries her best to fit in with the family she has now been thrust into and attend school. Fabiola’s dream of a better life never had a chance to manifest before it was taken away. However, Detroit looks nothing like Haiti-not the land, people, food, or customs. We follow Fabiola’s journey in Detroit, she speaks English very well since her aunt paid for her to receive the equivalent of an American education while in Haiti. Getting updates on her status is made extremely difficult & Fabiola’s aunt Matant Joe wants her to focus on school while she attempts to help her sister, Fabiola’s mother. Fabiola’s mother is taken to a detention center in New Jersey where her fate is unknown and there is no way of communicating. She was in her last year of High School and is to finish in the states as planned by her mother and aunt.

Fabiola is forced to go on with her American family-her 3 cousins and aunt. In years past, Fabiola’s mother had stayed in the country with an expired Visa and she was thought to be returning with the intent to stay. Immigration however, detains Fabiola’s mother on grounds of suspicion to stay in the country longer than her Visa allows. The books opening scene takes place in the airport, Fabiola and her mother had just landed and were to be picked up by their family in Detroit Michigan. Fabiola was raised in Haiti where she and her mother are all they have.

Fabiola was born in the states however, her mother took her back to Haiti when she was still a baby. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?Īmerican Street tells the story of Fabiola Toussaint, a young teen who has returned to the United States with her mother in search of a better life or as they’ve come to call it, Une Belle Vie (a good life). Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost.

immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess the grittiness of Detroit’s west side a new school and a surprising romance, all on her own. On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie-a good life.īut after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. Thank you Balzer + Bray, Harper Collins, and Ibi Zoboi for the eGalley of American Street in exchange for an honest review. Genre: YA Contemporary/Diverse/Own Voices Published by: Balzer + Bray/ Harper Collins

American street book