Rising Class: How Three First-Generation College Students Conquered Their First Year - Hardcover

Miller, Jennifer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374313571 ISBN 13: 9780374313579

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2023

Synopsis

This eye-opening YA narrative nonfiction follows three first-generation college students as they navigate their first year―and ultimately a global pandemic.

Making it through the first year of college is tough. What makes it even tougher is being the first in your family to do so. Who can you turn to when you need advice?

Rising Class follows three first-generation freshmen, Briani, Conner, and Jacklynn, as they not only experience their first semester of college, but the COVID-19 pandemic that turned their Spring semester upside down. From life in the ivy league to classes at a community college, this nonfiction book follows these students' challenges, successes, and dreams as they tackle their first year of college and juggle responsibilities to their families back home.

Eye-opening and poignant, Jennifer Miller writes a narrative nonfiction story that speaks to new beginnings, coming of age, and perseverance.

About this title

About the Author

Jennifer Miller is an author and journalist. Her debut novel, The Year of the Gadfly, was called "entirely addictive" (Glamour) and a "darkly comic romp” (The Washington Post). She writes frequently for The New York Times and The Washington Post Magazine. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.

Reviews

Gr 9 Up—This is a wonderfully pieced together narrative of three students' experiences as first-generation college students in the midst of a pandemic. Though the focus is not on the pandemic itself, the lives of the students are obviously impacted from the unsettled state of the world during 2020 and beyond. The flow and organization of this informative book allow readers to get immersed in the lives of each of the three students, their friends, and families. Readers will often find their hearts aching and want to help these students as they share intimate and vulnerable parts of their experience. This will not only inform prospective students of a small variety of options and experiences, but provides a very deep dive into those three experiences. For educators, this will also serve to inform them of tribulations that many students, not just first-generation students, encounter throughout their high school senior year, as well as the first year of higher education. VERDICT A great auxiliary purchase for any high school library and professional collections.—Samantha Hull

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374313571
• ISBN 13: 9780374313579
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352