From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Quick read. Zoe starts the story angry at her best friend, Trevor, as the summer begins. As she looks through the mail on her birthday she finds a birthday card from her birth father who is in prison. She reads it and writes back, starting a relationship that she didn't realize was missing from her life.
Zoe loves baking and gets an internship at a local bakery for the summer to prove to her parents she is ready to audition for a baking competition show.
As Zoe gets to know Marcus, she hears his claims of Innocence and does more research on those falsely imprisoned. The author adeptly weaves in issues of systemic and institutional racism. Zoe wants to know more despite hesitance from her grandmother and absolute resistance from her show more mother.
A family story, a friendship story, a practicing to follow your passion story, and a story that delves into wrongful incarceration and the reality of having a parent in prison.
Zoe asks after she wants to investigate her father's claim and is blocked by the adults in her life, "Maybe it was okay to do something wrong if you were doing it for the right reason," (chpt 23) show less

Summer between 6th and 7th grade, and Zoe has just turned 12.

Things I love about this book:
Zoe's loving family -- both her parents and her grandma

Her passion for baking, and the realistic ideas about how to pursue your passion, even as a young person

The relationships in this book -- they feel authentic, and they have a lot of depth. For instance, Trevor and Zoe both have reasons to be upset with their friendships at the beginning of the summer. When they finally talk this through, together they are able to figure out how to move forward.

The deft handling of Marcus' prison story -- not only the reality and importance of recognizing the epidemic of wrongful imprisonment of Black men; but also Zoe's journey to figuring out whether or not show more she could trust him, and the large and real emotions experienced by everyone after his conviction. Both her Mom and her Grandma have very strong feelings, based on their experiences.

Everyone in the book navigates the issue of forgiveness in large and small ways. It's very powerful.

I particularly like that while there are many instances that directly model how to heal relationships, it never reads as didactic -- the story is seamless and wonderfully engaging. show less

In this middle grade book, Zoe just wants to enjoy her summer and bake. But she gets a letter from her incarcerated father. Really great and important book about societal racism, and the racial disparities in law and our prison system, and fighting for justice. Highly recommended.

Zoe Washington is not speaking to her best friend/next door neighbor Trevor, and her other two friends, Maya and Jasmine, are gone (Maya at summer camp, Jasmine moved out of state). So Zoe is focused on preparing to enter a baking competition, and her internship at her mom's friend's bakery, when she gets a letter from her biological father for her twelfth birthday. Marcus is in prison for murder, and this is the first time he's contacted Zoe (that she knows of). Her grandmother helps her stay in touch with Marcus through letters and phone calls, even though Zoe's mom doesn't want her to have contact with him. Now Zoe has a new project: she has to prove Marcus is innocent and get him out of jail. Zoe makes up with Trevor, and the two show more plan a solo trip to find Marcus' "alibi witness," a Harvard professor - an unauthorized trip they get in big trouble for. But in the end, Zoe changes her mom's mind, and in an epilogue a few years later, Marcus celebrates his birthday with the whole family.

Zoe, her mom, her grandmother, and Marcus are all Black; Zoe's step/adoptive father is white.

See also: Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte, Blended by Sharon Draper

Quotes

I knew about the Black Lives Matter movement, how Black people all over the country were getting shot by police for no good reason. If those police officers weren't going to jail, then it made sense that the whole prison system was messed up. I never thought about whether prisons had the wrong people before. I assumed that if you committed a crime, you got the punishment you deserved, and innocent people would always be proven innocent. Apparently not. (102)

I still couldn't believe how unfair it was. What was the point of a legal system if it didn't work a lot of the time? (107)

All of the lying was wrong, I knew that. But maybe it was okay to do something wrong if you were doing it for the right reason. (180)

Forget about becoming a pastry chef when I grew up. I already was one. (276) show less

“Kris why are you reading another kid’s book” I’m looking for books we can cut into interp scripts because 1. play scripts are expensive and 2. it’s hard to find pieces with female BIPOC protagonist.

This is a great piece of middle grade fiction, it’s very sweet. I really loved how multifaceted Zoe was, she’s no Mary Sue, but watch out world, here she comes! What a great role model for kids. She makes mistakes and apologizes for them and tries to do better. She fights for her loved ones. She works hard to meet her goals.

The real world stuff is well done, even if it feels heavy handed at times, I think that’s only because I’m an adult. What a great book to give to kids to open up a conversation about prison and race.

This was intended as a buddy read with my 12 year old Grand Daughter...but once I started reading, I could not stop myself and read clear through to the end (poor GD, this is the second time we started a book together and she got left behind, coughing in the wake of my dust). Hopefully, she will finish the book soon as I am looking forward to discussing it with her.

12 -year -old Zoe receives a letter from her biological father in prison. She finds the letter addressed to her and from the contents learns that biological father has sent many letters before that she has never received and is not sure why. Her father is in prison for murder and her mother says he is a bad man and Zoe should not become involved with him. But Zoe’s father show more sounds like a good man and tells her he is innocent and the two begin to develop a relationship while exchanging letters and in two telephone conversations from the prison. This is done behind her mother’s back and with the aid of her grandmother, who always believed in her father’s innocence.

Zoe loves to bake and is currently apprenticing in a bakery, from which she hopes to gain enough experience to be accepted as a contestant in a popular TV bake show. Her father likes to cook and works in the prison kitchen and introduces her to his mother’s (Zoe’s Grandmother’s) macaroni and cheese recipe. Zoe likes music and her father introduces her to his favorite music, too.

Zoe’s father claims that he had an alibi and that he was somewhere else at the time of the murder, but his public defender was unable to, or did not try to, reach the person who could provide the alibi. Although her father claims he is resigned to his fate and intends to live quietly in prison for the duration of his sentence, Zoe and her best friend embark on an adventure to find the witness he claims will provide the alibi. While doing so Zoe and her best friend travel to Harvard University on their own, from their suburb, after lying to their parents as to the true purpose of their visit to Metropolitan Boston. Will they get caught? Will the person they are going to meet, in fact, provide an alibi for Zoe’s father? Is Zoe’s father telling the truth about his innocence and his alibi?

The story is rich with important topics begging discussion: How friends should behave (inside and outside of each other’s company), should a parent withhold mail sent by other parent to their child, at what age should a parent cease "protecting" a child from the truth of their background, are all people in prison necessarily bad, why are more innocent black men convicted of murder than innocent white men, prejudice controlling the opinion of Public Defender, lying to a parent and taking action in defiance thereof, grandparent aiding and abetting while withholding important information from parent, the “look” (I will not delve here but important to discuss), the list is much longer and the topics certainly age appropriate.

The interesting themes above are skillfully woven into the story, and there are several truly thrilling/nail biting scenes where the pages of the novel seem to flip furiously on their own. show less

This was ALMOST a five start book for me.

Almost.

So much was going for it. It was the story of Zoe, who adores baking (and wants to enter a baking competition show) and has an internship at a bakery. She has gotten a letter from her biological father, who is in prison.....and telling no one, Zoe reaches out and writes him back. Thus begins a journey into determining if her biological father really belonged in jail (he claims his innocence) and what has she been missing out on?

I was impressed with the writing of this debut novel and Zoe was a delightful character. Her friendship up and downs is something every twelve year old can relate to.

But then the book wraps up too quickly in a perfect bow. Yes, the writing was on the wall: Zoe's show more dad was innocent; the Innocence Project helped make that discovery known. Everything felt too fast. One chapter Zoe is getting in trouble for going behind her family's back and then the next was "Mom is cool with me looking into him....now I am visiting him in prison....now he is out." I wanted more "authenticity" than that.

Still, I am looking forward to seeing more offerings from this author. show less