Excerpt from Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

But girls like me, with coal skin and hula-hoop hips, whose mommas barely make enough money to keep food in the house, have to take opportunities every chance we get.

Before Mom walks away, she says, "I'm going to pick up some groceries after I get off work tomorrow. Anything you need me to get?"

"Did you see what I added to the list on the fridge?" I ask, smiling.

Mom laughs. "That was you? I thought maybe it was E.J. who wrote that."

E.J. is my mom's brother, but I have never called him Uncle E.J. He is twenty, so we are more like siblings. He started staying with us when he dropped out of college. Well, let him tell it: he took a leave of absence, but it's been a year and I haven't heard anything about his trying to go back. Instead he's busy making a name for himself as a local deejay.

Mom walks to her bedroom. "Mint chocolate chip ice cream. I'll see what I can do," she says. "If I have enough money, I'll get it. Promise."

I finish getting ready for school, thinking to myself that I know all about Mom's promises. She does her best to make them, but they are fragile and break easily.

Excerpted from Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson. Copyright © 2017 by Renee Watson. Excerpted by permission of Bloomsbury USA. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.