
A girl confined for a future purpose seeks freedom and identity beyond her small room.
In a dystopian future, Inmate Eleven, a young Black girl, is confined as a potential biological match for the president's son. Her only companion, a restless dog, mirrors her yearning for freedom. Meanwhile, in present-day Washington DC, Imogen battles isolation and fears, haunted by confinement nightmares. As she navigates her phobias, a college student helps her discover the power of her identity. Both girls, separated by time, grapple with what it means to be 'Blue' and the strength found in embracing their true selves. Will they find liberation beyond their walls?
Award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, in this middle-grade novel that has been compared to the work of Jordan Peele and praised as “brilliantly inventive storytelling” by Publishers Weekly. . In the future, a Black girl known only as Inmate Eleven is kept confined – to be used as a biological match for the president’s son, should he fall ill. She is called a Blue – the color of sadness. She lives in a small-small room with her dog, who is going wolf more often - he’s pacing and imagining he’s free. Inmate Eleven wants to go wolf too–she wants to know why she feels so Blue and what is beyond her small-small room. In the present, Imogen lives outside of Washington DC. The pandemic has distanced her from everyone but her mother and her therapist. Imogen has intense phobias and nightmares of confinement. Her two older brothers used to help her, but now she’s on her own, until a college student helps her see the difference between being Blue and sad, and Black and empowered. In this symphony of a novel, award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, and empowers readers to remember their voices and stories are important, especially when they feel the need to go wolf.
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