American Street is a young adult fictional novel by Ibi Zoboi. Published in 2017 by Balzer & Bray, the novel tells a powerful and evoking story about an immigrant family finding their way in the USA after leaving Haiti, only to stumble upon more trying times.
Fabiola Toussaint is left on her own in a foreign land after her mother is detained by immigration police as soon as they arrive in the US. She has to survive on her own in the decaying streets of Detroit, Michigan. During this transition, she has to juggle between school, a blooming romance, and the crime-ridden streets while making sure that she doesn't fall into a cycle of impossible choices that might doom her present and future.
Living in America, Fabiola feels out of place, and she is indeed out of place as she tries to resolve her Haitian and American identity. She constantly fears for her life as she realizes that her freedom might be upended at any moment. Despite this unsettling feeling, she is thrilled at the opportunities that lie before her, and she doesn't waste a second to seize them.
From Fabiola's perspective, we uncover the plight of a young immigrant who tries to find her inner identity as she juggles between building a future and walking a straight path, avoiding at all costs being sent back to where they barely escaped. Emotions run wild, and Fabiola exercises a great level of strength and grit to survive the streets of America.
American Street was awarded the 2018 Américas Award and 2017 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. It was also nominated for the 2020 South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult and the 2019 Lincoln Award.
