Full Cicada Moon, Marilyn Hilton
Historical fiction/Novel in verse
Mimi knew how things worked back in California. In California, she excelled in math and science, she had friends whose families were from all over the world, and her cousins lived right next door. And she had big dreams: to become the first woman astronaut.
When she moves to Vermont, things change. Drastically. It’s 1969, and in Vermont, girls aren’t allowed to take woodshop and they’re not supposed to be good at science – much less dream of going into space. Plus, Mimi is half-Japanese and half-Black, and while that didn’t stand out in Berkeley, it makes her an outsider at her new, almost entirely white school.
Slowly but surely, though, Mimi starts to make friends – and make a difference in her school by standing up for what she believes in.