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Finding Yvonne

Yvonne, a high school senior raised by her father, an African American chef, thought college would be a music school, but her (former) private violin teacher has made clear Yvonne isn’t good enough, and she knows it’s true. Her orchestra teacher says there are other careers in music besides performance, while her dad’s mentor thinks she has talent as a baker. Yvonne is also in love, she thinks, with Warren, her dad’s 21-year-old sous chef, although they’ve taken things slowly, because he works with her dad and because she isn’t yet 18. Then she meets Omar, a busker, attracted to his joy in music, his spontaneity, and his seemingly carefree life. The week Yvonne turns 18, she ends up sleeping with both Warren and Omar; not long after she discovers she’s pregnant. She can’t imagine telling her dad, while she already thinks her best friend judges her for choosing to have sex, a fact about which Yvonne is unapologetic. A novel that is complex and nuanced features characters that are genuine at every turn. Yvonne is smart but she’s not a prodigy at music or baking or life. She is trying to figure things out, and learning to ask for and give honesty and emotional accountability in all of her relationships. By story’s end, which includes a frank discussion of abortion, one thing she’s certain of is being surrounded by love. ©2019 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 13 and older
Age Range: Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13) Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: African Americans Food and Cooking Music and Musicians Pregnancy Sex and Sexuality
Diversity subject: Black/African

Publisher: Little, Brown
Publish Year: 2018
Pages: 276
ISBN: 9780316349055

CCBC Location: Fiction, Colbert

Finding Yvonne