National Book Award longlisted author Sherri Winston (Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution) gives middle-grade readers an encouraging boost in the inspiring Shark Teeth, about a Black tween struggling to keep her family together.
Twelve-year-old Sharkita 'Kita' Lloyd and her younger siblings, Lilli and Lamar, spent the summer in separate foster homes. Kita now lives in constant fear that her family is going to be split up again. Although Mama has been stable for a while, Kita still does most of the housework and caregiving for her younger siblings, particularly burdensome since eight-year-old Lamar needs "special attention" because of his fetal alcohol syndrome. As Kita starts the seventh grade, overwhelmed and self-conscious about her hyperdontia (which makes her teeth "stack... up like a shark's"), she hopes this year will be different from the last. When Mama allows her to join the dance team, Kita gets a glimpse of what it's like to be a "normal" kid. But then her worst fears come true--Kita must decide if keeping her family together is worth the constant heartbreak.
Winston delivers an outstanding, heart-wrenching novel from Kita's resilient point of view. Although the book is a quick and accessible read filled with excellent shark metaphors, Winston thoughtfully covers heavy topics that readers may find emotionally demanding, such as substance abuse, parental abandonment, and mental health. Kita has a complicated, anxious, sensitive inner life that allows readers to understand and empathize with her circumstances. --Natasha Harris, freelance reviewer