Pride
by Ibi Zoboi
High School    Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins    291 pp.    g
9/18    978-0-06-256404-7    $17.99
e-book ed.  978-0-06-256407-8    $9.99

Zuri Benitez is a proud Haitian-Dominican teen who loves her four sisters and her parents, and despite others’ negative perceptions, she especially loves her Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. When the wealthy African American Darcy brothers, Darius and Ainsley, and their parents move in across the street, Zuri must deal with standoffish younger brother Darius and the reality that the family’s move to Bushwick means her neighborhood is being gentrified. Zuri also feels complex and conflicting emotions — including guilt and hope — as she considers leaving Brooklyn to attend Howard University. This lively and innovative Pride and Prejudice retelling (starring a fully rounded Afro-Latinx YA character) hits the familiar notes of Austen’s Bennet sisters — their misunderstandings with the young men around them, the importance of a supportive family — while inventively modernizing the elements of the original that were always a commentary about social class. As Zuri comes to understand that Darius also worries about what the future might hold, her feelings toward him shift, and the reader is drawn once again into a timeless tale, beautifully told.

From the September/October 2018 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.