Sing, Unburied, Sing

Teenager Jojo, son of a white father and a black mother, is a dedicated brother and grandson in the American South who finds himself caring for his young sister as his mother battles drug addiction and his father is in prison. Jojo’s grandfather tries to teach him what it means to be a good person and Jojo struggles to become that good man despite his parents’ poor examples and the widespread discrimination he faces because of his mixed heritage. This compelling and sophisticated novel explores issues of race, disenfranchisement, identity, and family and could be used for a literature circle, and passages could be chosen to explore voice and dialect. Social considerations noted.