Daje Shelton, 17, is determined to turn things around in her rough St. Louis neighborhood after a school fight lands her in a court-supervised alternative high school. However, focusing on school is difficult as she loses several friends to gun violence, falls in love for the first time, and becomes pregnant with a boy, Ahkeem, just as Ferguson erupts a few miles away. For Ahkeem illuminates the challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today through Daje's intimate coming-of-age story, as well as the strength, resilience, and determination required to survive.
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Daje Shelton, 17, is determined to turn things around in her rough St. Louis neighborhood after a school fight lands her in a court-supervised alternative high school. However, focusing on school is difficult as she loses several friends to gun violence, falls in love for the first time, and becomes pregnant with a boy, Ahkeem, just as Ferguson erupts a few miles away. For Ahkeem illuminates the challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today through Daje's intimate coming-of-age story, as well as the strength, resilience, and determination required to survive.
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