Immediate Disclaimer: This book is NOT appropriate for middle schoolers, so if you're looking for a middle schooler book, look elsewhere.
PUSH revolves around a girl named Precious, an African-American girl who is illiterate and wishes to break out of her past and eventually reach college with the help of an alternative education program. The style of writing is reflective of African-American English, and is told as if Precious is explaining it. Precious suffered greatly early on in her life at the hands of two incestuous parents and the oppressive environment of Harlem's ghetto. She births two children as a product of her father's incest. After attacking a teacher during school, she is introduced into an alternative education program led by the encouraging and supportive Ms. Blue Rain. Through writing, she is able to release her anguish about her past, and seek a better life for herself and her two children.
The messages of this book are phenomenal: to keep pushing despite adversity, to seek betterment despite the bleakness of current circumstances, and to foster understanding and love between individuals in the same struggle. Sapphire doesn't sugarcoat the diction, it is raw and real. But one must consider in a teaching situation the extremely graphic nature of the text, in which incest, sex, and rape are commonplace. I would recommend reading this as small groups or individually for a classroom (mature 9-10th graders, 11th or 12th preferred) in order to fully appreciate the gravity of the dialogue. For teens (like myself), who grew up in the privileged space of white suburbia, this book was certainly an eye-opener.
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