15 'American Street' Quotes That Will Inspire You To Read This Gorgeous, Timely Novel

This month, Bustle's American Woman Book Club is reading American Street by Ibi Zoboi, a timely coming-of-age novel that explores themes of immigration, family, and of course, growing up. Ibi Zoboi writes with a powerful command of both realism and fantasy, producing lines packed with emotional intensity and lyrical honesty. If you read and loved American Street, be sure to join Bustle and author Ibi Zoboi for an event on March 30 at Strand Book Store in New York City.

If you haven't read it yet, here's some info: the novel follows Fabiola Toussaint, a teenager from Haiti who is forced to navigate her new home, Detroit, by herself after her mother is detained in New Jersey by U.S. Immigration. She and her mother had a clear impression of The American Dream: glittering streets and beautiful people on the corner of American Street and Joy Street. They imagined "une belle vie." What Fabiola finds instead are three loud American cousins she has never met before and an Aunt that immediately forbids her from speaking Creole. But as she slowly adjusts to the complicated dynamics of public school, new friends, and boys, Fabiola learns about the true, complicated meaning of the American Dream.

Ibi Zoboi tells Fabiola's story with a raw honesty that heightens the emotional stakes of the story. Heartbreaking and important, this book is a must-read for people of all ages. Still not convinced? Here are 15 quotes from the novel that will inspire you to read this book right now:

American Street by Ibi Zoboi (Signed Copy), $17.99, Strand Book Store