“Before incredible movements and monikers like Black Girls Rock, Black Girl Magic, and Well-Read Black Girl, there was The Skin I’m In.” —Jason Reynolds
THE LIFE I’M IN
A SISTER NOVEL TO THE BESTSELLING, THE SKIN I’M IN
BY THREE-TIME CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR,
SHARON G. FLAKE
★ “A VIVID AND IMPORTANT DEPICTION OF THE STRUGGLES
OF TOO MANY TEENS.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS, STARRED REVIEW
★ “A MUCH-DESIRED SISTER NOVEL”—BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW
"The best part of my gig is that I get to meet, hug and engage with young people. And that years later, many of those young people (along with their teachers and parents) say that my work has impacted their lives in some significant way. If I had to do it all over again, I would still want to be an author who writes for young people of all ages." —Sharon G. Flake
Sharon G. Flake’s bestselling, Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel, The Skin I’m In, redefined young adult literature when it was first published in 1998. It presented characters, voices, and real-world experiences that had not been fully seen before, and has since gone on to become a modern classic. Now, over twenty years later, Scholastic Press is proud to publish its powerful and long-anticipated sister novel, THE LIFE I’M IN (On sale January 5, 2020). Told from the perspective of the bully in The Skin I’m In, THE LIFE I’M IN presents the unflinching story of Char, a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking.
In THE LIFE I’M IN, readers follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking. Much is revealed behind the complex system of men who take advantage of vulnerable teens in the underbelly of society. While Char might be frightened, she remains strong and determined to bring herself and her fellow victims out of the dark and back into the light, reminding readers why compassion is a powerful cure to the ills of the world.
Skillfully peeling back the layers of Char’s inner world to show bullies don’t just appear, they’re mean for a reason, THE LIFE I’M IN is at once a timely, radical story of a girl on the brink, and a gripping exploration in to the power of human empathy.
SHARON G. FLAKE exploded onto the literary scene with her novel The Skin I'm In, in 1998, and was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Since then she has become a multiple Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award winner and many of her novels have received ALA Notable and Best Books for Young Adults citations from the American Library Association. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Please visit Sharon's website at sharongflake.com.
Awards & Recognition
Coretta Scott King Honor Award
Kirkus Review Top Ten Book of the Year
NAACP Image Award Nominee
YWCA Racial Justice Award
IRA Notable Book For A Global Society
Detroit Public Library Outstanding Book of the Year Award
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
American Library Association Best Books for Young Young Adult Readers
New York Public Library Top Ten Books for the Teen Age
Top Twenty Recommended Books to Read by the Texas Library Association
Junior Library Guide Selection
100 Books Every Teenage Girl Should Read
