PRAISE FOR RISING CLASS
"The evergreen challenges of making friends, dealing with homesickness, and managing heavy workloads are compounded by additional stressors, including impostor syndrome, pressure to make parents’ sacrifices count, and the gulfs between their backgrounds and those of their more privileged—and occasionally oblivious—classmates…Many students will feel seen; others will find their eyes opened." —Kirkus Reviews
“Eye-opening…By foregrounding the trio’s raw emotions and visceral reactions to current affairs, Miller highlights the intense uncertainty faced by teens trying to navigate life-changing situations amid traumatizing social crises.” —Publishers Weekly
“Balancing the notoriously unprecedented with personal and familial firsts is a strength of this richly and thoroughly ethnographic project that sheds light on the realities of higher education for a growing number of students.” —BCCB
“Miller’s book sheds light on costly tuition rates and resource disparities, particularly at Ivy League institutions. She also does a thorough job of researching her subjects, exposing the highlights and pitfalls freshman year can hold. Readers of diverse economic backgrounds and those who have been impacted by the pandemic schooling system will find something to relate to with Briani, Connor, and Jacklyn.” — Booklist
"A riveting ride through the first year of college that also manages to be an incisive examination of the class divide on college campuses and the myriad personal challenges first-generation students must navigate before they open a single book. Briani, Conner, and Jacklynn will stay with you long after you finish reading.”
—New York Times-bestselling author, Dashka Slater
"Three remarkable young people, one rollercoaster year—this is gripping real-life drama." —National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin
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.
Briani, the daughter of politically conservative immigrants from outside Atlanta, longs to find her place in the big city. Teenage couple Conner and Jacklynn grew up in small-town Missouri, and hope to escape the familial addiction that defined their childhoods. They and their diverse cohort of first-generation and low-income friends see college as a new beginning--a chance to seize the American Dream on their own terms. It won't be easy.
From community college to the Ivy League, Rising Class follows the struggles and successes of remarkable young adults as they tackle their first year of college and juggle responsibilities to their families back home.
