Title: Like Vanessa
Description: In this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin s real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa s view of her own world begins to change.
Subjects: Self-confidence, Urban schools, Dysfunctional families, Juvenile fiction, Nineteen eighties, African American girls, Beauty contests, History, Children's fiction, African americans, fiction, New jersey, fiction, Beauty contests, fiction, Family, fiction, Schools, fiction, Family problems, Family life, Fiction, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, Social Themes, Schools, African Americans
Places: New Jersey, Newark (N.J.), Newark
People: Vanessa Williams
Time periods: 20th century