A memoir of race and education, this is the story of a girl who grew up and out of the Cleveland projects in the 1960s and '70s. While growing up in Cleveland, young Charlise Lyles experienced turbulent events including race riots and a neighborhood murder. Yet she was inspired to appreciate literature at a young age, and she spent her days readingand also often searching for the estranged father who taught her that love of learning. Despite starting in the slow class at an aging school on Cleveland's east side, Lyles had a thirst for knowledge and drive for success that would open a door to new opportunities. Granted a scholarship to a prestigious prep school in a wealthy suburb, the vibrant teenager finds herself presented with a bewildering set of new challengesand a new direction in life.