Push, By: Sapphire

This heartbreaking, extremely graphic novel recounts the story of Precious Jones, a sixteen-year-old African American girl living in Harlem in the late 1980’s. Precious is illiterate, obese, been impregnated twice by her father, and suffers from continual sexual, emotional, and physical abuse from her unemployed mother. Sapphire’s debut novel begins with Precious being transferred to an alternative school after her high school learns of her second pregnancy. There Precious is finally nurtured – accumulating reading and writing skills and for the first time, interacting with individuals who love her, support her, and whom she can call friends. Additionally, Precious is eventually moved to a halfway house, finally separated from her abusive mother, where she is forced to reflect upon her life and forge a path into the future.

Overall, this book in unsuitable for a middle school context both in its themes and in its level of teachability. Even for the experienced, “cultured” reader, the novel, while powerful in its depiction of human survival in the face of relentless abuse, is so graphic that it could potentially cause harmful effects. Although there is significant language and sexual terminology, Sapphire also details the incestuous abuse experienced by Precious. While this novel would never work as a “whole-class” activity, having the book in a classroom or school library would be valuable. While some students would be wholeheartedly uncomfortable with the content, others would find strength and inspiration through it. Also, the novel is written in Precious’s dialect and through her journals written at the alternative school, a way that would be appealing as it can be read quite rapidly.