Invisible Child

This biography by Andrea Elliot was very impactful. It follows Dasani, a homeless African American girl who lives in New York City, throughout her childhood. Her story is representative of a completely different America those under the poverty line experience, and it is terrifying. The research Elliot did was remarkable to me; she gives the reader so much information about Dasani and her family. And getting to know Dasani through this book left me with so many confusing feelings. Dasani was around the same age as me by the end of the book, and we live in the same country. But that is where the similarities end. Her resilience comes from facing hardships I could never even begin to image, and it is hard to believe we are both supposedly granted equal rights. There is nothing equal about our situations, and Dasani doesn’t even have the opportunities to come out of it, like how America promises.

I think nobody can ever claim racism is over when kids like Dasani still struggle. If every single person in America read this book, the current political divides would probably be resolved.