My life as an ice cream sandwich

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National Book Award-finalist Ibi Zoboi makes her middle-grade debut with a moving story of a girl finding her place in a world that's changing at warp speed.Twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet has lived with her beloved grandfather Jeremiah in Huntsville, Alabama ever since she was little. As one of the first black engineers to integrate NASA, Jeremiah has nurtured Ebony-Grace’s love for all things outer space and science fiction—especially Star Wars and Star Trek. But in the summer of 1984, when trouble arises with Jeremiah, it’s decided she’ll spend a few weeks with her father in Harlem. Harlem is an exciting and terrifying place for a sheltered girl from Hunstville, and Ebony-Grace’s first instinct is to retreat into her imagination. But soon 126th Street begins to reveal that it has more in common with her beloved sci-fi adventures than she ever thought possible, and by summer's end, Ebony-Grace discovers that Harlem has a place for a girl whose eyes are always on the stars.A New York Times Bestseller

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Similar Titles From NoveList

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These books have the appeal factors moving and own voices, and they have the subjects "ethnic identity," "belonging," and "girls."
These books have the appeal factors character-driven, and they have the genre "historical fiction"; and the subject "preteen girls."
Readers looking for strong African American girls in historical novels with richly detailed urban settings will enjoy these moving novels. One Crazy Summer is set in 1968 Oakland and Ice Cream is set in 1984 Harlem. -- NoveList Contributor
Although My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich is historical fiction and Paola Santiago is fantasy, both of these center mother-daughter strife and science and feature spunky characters. -- Sierra McKenzie
African-American girls find a sense of belonging and family history while experiencing Harlem with their fathers in these own voices character-driven novels. Life is set in the 1980s, while Places is contemporary. -- Lisa Clark
These books have the subjects "family visits," "ethnic identity," and "summer."
These books have the appeal factors moving, and they have the genre "historical fiction"; and the subjects "belonging," "girls," and "african americans."
These books have the appeal factors moving, character-driven, and own voices, and they have the theme "coming of age"; the genre "historical fiction"; and the subjects "ethnic identity" and "girls."
These moving, character driven, historical stories set in New York star culturally diverse tween girls who try to make sense of their own identity as they struggle to fit in. -- Stephen Ashley
Trips to New York City prove life-changing for the twelve-year-old girls in both own voices novels. Ice Cream Sandwich is set in 1980s Harlem, while Summer in the City takes place in the contemporary theater scene. -- Autumn Winters
Readers who appreciate strong characters that march to the beat of their own drummers will enjoy meeting Sunny and Ebony-Grace (Ice Cream) in these own-voices novels. Sunny is contemporary while Ice Cream is set in 1984. -- NoveList Contributor
Although Sandwich is set in 1984 and Something is contemporary, these character-driven own voices novels feature oddball African American girls who struggle with friendships. Ebony-Grace (Sandwich) has trouble relating to a former friend; Jenae (Something) is painfully shy. -- NoveList Contributor

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Whether writing for teens or children, in prose or in verse, African American authors Jason Reynolds and Ibi Zoboi write emotionally intense, character-driven stories about Black youth. Both authors' works often tackle societal issues like gang violence or wrongful imprisonment in a thought-provoking manner, while centering the Black experience. -- NoveList Contributor
In their writings for teens and older kids, Kekla Magoon and Ibi Zoboi center the authentic experiences of Black characters. Both write angsty, intense realistic fiction, as well as some speculative fiction and classics-inspired works, and both have collaborations with notable Black speakers and writers. -- Rebecca Honeycutt
Ibi Zoboi and Echo Brown are both known for writing serious, sometimes intense own voices stories for teens with elements of magical realism that explore the Black experience. Zoboi also writes stories for younger children. -- Stephen Ashley
Ibi Zoboi and Nic Stone both write contemporary and speculative works that star Black teens and kids and often focus on hot button issues. Both authors write thought-provoking stories in a range of tones, from gritty realism to upbeat romance. -- NoveList Contributor
Readers of thought-provoking contemporary novels about Black teens will enjoy both authors. A strong sense of place and authentic dialogue bring their powerful stories to life. -- NoveList Contributor
These authors' works have the appeal factors emotionally intense, and they have the subjects "african american teenagers," "poets," and "african american children."
These authors' works have the subjects "institutional racism," "african american teenagers," and "african american children"; and characters that are "introspective characters."
These authors' works have the subjects "racism," "african americans," and "change (psychology)."
These authors' works have the subjects "african american teenagers," "african american children," and "sixteen-year-old boys."
These authors' works have the subjects "gentrification of cities," "neighborhoods," and "african american children."
These authors' works have the appeal factors emotionally intense, and they have the subjects "african american teenagers," "racism in education," and "african american children."
These authors' works have the appeal factors emotionally intense, melancholy, and dialect-filled, and they have the genre "afrofantasy"; and the subjects "institutional racism," "african american families," and "african american children."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Zoboi's middle-grade debut takes readers back to Harlem in the 1980s. Ebony-Grace lives with her mom in Huntsville, Alabama, and idolizes her grandfather, one of NASA's first Black engineers. Together, Ebony-Grace and her grandfather fantasize about life in space. When he gets into trouble and Ebony-Grace is sent to her father in New York, her first instinct is to retreat into her imagination location. However, it's only when she is able to merge her imagination with her reality that Ebony-Grace finds the courage to meet her real life head-on. As she endeavors to adjust to her new surroundings, where she doesn't feel like she fits in with other kids, Ebony-Grace faces each obstacle in her own unique way and comes out the other side with brand new friends. Because the narrative's focus is on Ebony-Grace's time in Harlem, the trouble with her grandfather is never made clear, but readers will nevertheless become engrossed in her story. Fueled with rich imaginative scenes and comics-style illustrations, this book will truly transport its young readers to another world.--Florence Simmons Copyright 2019 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Rising seventh-grader Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman (or, as she prefers, Cadet E-Grace Starfleet) is obsessed with all manner of science fiction, much preferring her spacefaring internal life to the real world. When her aging grandfather, who was among the first black NASA engineers, is beset by unspecified trouble, Ebony is sent from her affluent Alabama family to stay with her working-class father in Harlem, which she calls "No Joke City." Homesick, named "Ice Cream Sandwich" by her peers ("Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside"), and sporting superhero T-shirts, Ebony finds it impossible to fit in with neighborhood girls interested in double Dutch and Dapper Dan's. Instead, she uses her "imagination location" to create tales about rescuing her grandfather, the audacious Captain Fleet, a storyline illustrated in occasional unattributed comic strips. Ebony-Grace's behaviors present as neurodiverse, though this is never labeled in the text. The girl eventually learns "to see a place with new eyes," but underdeveloped subplots about her grandfather and her father's brother hamper Ebony-Grace's exploration of her second home. Even so, Zoboi (American Street) excels at resurrecting 1980s Harlem in her middle grade debut, expertly sprinkling in nostalgia-fueled references to break dancing, rap battles, and the rise of female MCs. Ages 10-up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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School Library Journal Review

Gr 4--7--A story about imagination and trying to fit in, set in 1980s Harlem. Twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet leaves her mother and beloved, ill grandfather in Alabama and touches down in busy New York City to visit her father. To cope with loud, crowded, and confusing surroundings, Ebony-Grace retreats into her imaginary outer space world, which she has created with her grandfather. Unfortunately, Ebony-Grace's peers are not interested in pretending to be space captains--not even her sometimes-friend, Bianca--and she is mocked. But Ebony-Grace continues to pretend that she is E-Grace Starfleet on a mission in No Joke City to defeat the Sonic King and rescue Captain Fleet. At the story's climax, Ebony-Grace steals an envelope of money from her father and inexplicably uses it to equip Bianca's Double Dutch crew with new clothes and an entrance fee to compete at the Apollo Theater, connecting these actions with her mission. This theft causes a rift between her father and uncle, and they come to blows. Short graphic panels depicting Ebony-Grace's eye-catching imaginary space world interrupt the story periodically to engage readers. Ebony-Grace's voice is both young and incredibly socially awkward; readers may spend the narrative waiting for a big reveal as to why she acts both paranoid and much younger than her chronological age while being unable to leave her "imagination location" to preserve any social grace. For example, Ebony-Grace often speaks into an imaginary communicator, has a running commentary about being on a space mission, blasts kids with an imaginary weapon on her wrists when she doesn't get her way, accuses her father of putting mind control poison in her food, and thinks that the loud sounds of the city are sonic booms. Young readers may also have trouble grasping the 1980s references, which seem more suited to an adult audience. VERDICT Recommended for libraries that have a strong Ibi Zoboi readership, though the audience will be different here.--Shannon O'Connor, Unami Middle School, Chalfont, PA

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Horn Book Review

In the summer before seventh grade, in 1984, Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freemanalso known as E-Grace Starfleet, space cadet, in the comics she imaginesis on her way to visit her father in Harlem. Her journey from Huntsville, Alabama, to New York City seems more like a trip to a foreign galaxy, as she must cope with living with a father she hardly knows, adjusting to an unfamiliar neighborhood, and navigating confusing social circles and friendships. Adding to her anxiety, she soon learns that her beloved grandfather (the only person who entertains her star-filled dreams of science fiction, space travel, and adventure) is in some kind of trouble back home, and unfortunately for her, she will be staying in Harlem longer than initially planned. Throughout the novel, Ebony-Grace faces the challenges of change and of creating new relationships and community. Zobois (American Street, rev. 3/17; Pride, rev. 9/18) touching and (sometimes) humorous coming-of-age story highlights the importance of imagination and learning to celebrate what it means to be different in a world that demands conformity. Interspersed black-and-white panel illustrations that depict Ebony-Graces fanciful voyages to other worlds add touches of nostalgia and authenticity to an already-captivating character and story. monique harris July/Aug p.141(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Twelve-year-old aspiring astronaut Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman is lonely and homesick in New York.When trouble hits her family like an asteroid, Ebony-Grace, aka Cadet E-Grace Starfleet, is forced to leave her beloved grandfather and her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, to spend a week with her father in Harlem, New Yorkor as she calls it, "No Joke City." Determined to ignore what she calls the "Sonic Boom," New York's hip-hop revolution in the early 1980s, Ebony-Grace rejects the people, music, and movements of Harlem, instead blasting off in her mind aboard the Mothership Uhura to save her grandfather, Capt. Fleet. Stuck, Ebony-Grace works to navigate a new frontier where she is teased and called "crazy" because of her imaginative intergalactic adventures. Ostracized as a flava-less, "plain ol' ice cream sandwich! Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside," Ebony-Grace tries her best to be "regular and normal," but her outer-space imaginings are the only things that keep her grounded. The design includes images that sho nuff bring the '80s alive: comic-strip panels, inverted Star Wars scripting, and onomatopoeic graffiti-esque words. Unfortunately, these serve to interrupt an already-crowded narrative as readers hyperjump between Ebony-Grace's imagination and the movement of life in the real world, transmitted via news reports and subway memorials.This middle-grade read is heartfelt, but nostalgia that's a bit too on the nose makes it hard to follow. (Historical fiction. 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

Zoboi's middle-grade debut takes readers back to Harlem in the 1980s. Ebony-Grace lives with her mom in Huntsville, Alabama, and idolizes her grandfather, one of NASA's first Black engineers. Together, Ebony-Grace and her grandfather fantasize about life in space. When he gets into trouble and Ebony-Grace is sent to her father in New York, her first instinct is to retreat into her "imagination location." However, it's only when she is able to merge her imagination with her reality that Ebony-Grace finds the courage to meet her real life head-on. As she endeavors to adjust to her new surroundings, where she doesn't feel like she fits in with other kids, Ebony-Grace faces each obstacle in her own unique way—and comes out the other side with brand new friends. Because the narrative's focus is on Ebony-Grace's time in Harlem, the trouble with her grandfather is never made clear, but readers will nevertheless become engrossed in her story. Fueled with rich imaginative scenes and comics-style illustrations, this book will truly transport its young readers to another world. Grades 5-8. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Rising seventh-grader Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman (or, as she prefers, Cadet E-Grace Starfleet) is obsessed with all manner of science fiction, much preferring her spacefaring internal life to the real world. When her aging grandfather, who was among the first black NASA engineers, is beset by unspecified trouble, Ebony is sent from her affluent Alabama family to stay with her working-class father in Harlem, which she calls "No Joke City." Homesick, named "Ice Cream Sandwich" by her peers ("Chocolate on the outside, vanilla on the inside"), and sporting superhero T-shirts, Ebony finds it impossible to fit in with neighborhood girls interested in double Dutch and Dapper Dan's. Instead, she uses her "imagination location" to create tales about rescuing her grandfather, the audacious Captain Fleet, a storyline illustrated in occasional unattributed comic strips. Ebony-Grace's behaviors present as neurodiverse, though this is never labeled in the text. The girl eventually learns "to see a place with new eyes," but underdeveloped subplots about her grandfather and her father's brother hamper Ebony-Grace's exploration of her second home. Even so, Zoboi (American Street) excels at resurrecting 1980s Harlem in her middle grade debut, expertly sprinkling in nostalgia-fueled references to break dancing, rap battles, and the rise of female MCs. Ages 10–up. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.
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School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 4–7—A story about imagination and trying to fit in, set in 1980s Harlem. Twelve-year-old Ebony-Grace Norfleet leaves her mother and beloved, ill grandfather in Alabama and touches down in busy New York City to visit her father. To cope with loud, crowded, and confusing surroundings, Ebony-Grace retreats into her imaginary outer space world, which she has created with her grandfather. Unfortunately, Ebony-Grace's peers are not interested in pretending to be space captains—not even her sometimes-friend, Bianca—and she is mocked. But Ebony-Grace continues to pretend that she is E-Grace Starfleet on a mission in No Joke City to defeat the Sonic King and rescue Captain Fleet. At the story's climax, Ebony-Grace steals an envelope of money from her father and inexplicably uses it to equip Bianca's Double Dutch crew with new clothes and an entrance fee to compete at the Apollo Theater, connecting these actions with her mission. This theft causes a rift between her father and uncle, and they come to blows. Short graphic panels depicting Ebony-Grace's eye-catching imaginary space world interrupt the story periodically to engage readers. Ebony-Grace's voice is both young and incredibly socially awkward; readers may spend the narrative waiting for a big reveal as to why she acts both paranoid and much younger than her chronological age while being unable to leave her "imagination location" to preserve any social grace. For example, Ebony-Grace often speaks into an imaginary communicator, has a running commentary about being on a space mission, blasts kids with an imaginary weapon on her wrists when she doesn't get her way, accuses her father of putting mind control poison in her food, and thinks that the loud sounds of the city are sonic booms. Young readers may also have trouble grasping the 1980s references, which seem more suited to an adult audience. VERDICT Recommended for libraries that have a strong Ibi Zoboi readership, though the audience will be different here.—Shannon O'Connor, Unami Middle School, Chalfont, PA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal.

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal.
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