So You Think You're American

Book excerpt: Ekina was made in America with African parts, but unfortunately this has never made him indestructible. Precocious at ten years old, Ekina knows that physical strength won't help him fend off his overbearing parents, cruel teachers, and one-sided romance. It won't help him save his baby sister from their traditionally-misogynist father or protect his little brother from their mother's expectations either, although it might've helped him master an adagio--if he hadn't quit ballet class. Nigerian boys don't wear pointe shoes, and anyway, who does he think he is...an American? "So You Think You're American" is a novel about growing up in that world between foreign and native cultures. Poignant, funny, and sometimes hopelessly heartbreaking, "So You Think You're American" will evoke profound emotions, tears or laughter, in even the most stoic of readers.