Yulieta Lopez has a passion for the things she loves that she’s kept tamed for a long time as she fills the role of a diligent daughter, smart student, and steadfast friend. A theater nerd, as her junior year begins, she tries out for the lead in the school’s version of Our Town. Despite having the best audition of her life, the conservative teacher’s choice for lead will begin a chain reaction of events that allows Yulieta to have a voice that will reach much further than the school’s stage audience. Written in verse, the author leaves a note on this structure as a preface, encouraging readers to really enjoy the structure because there’s prose and scenes written like a play script as well — multifaceted, just like Yuli. The variety of relationships in Yuli’s life also brings depth to a novel that, on its surface, might seem like an easy read. Worldly lessons that art is activism and finding ways to do activism with the talents that you naturally have are life lessons not only for Yuli but for those connected to her, especially when her favorite teacher gets ensnared in a book-banning campaign by the school board. Yuli will not be seen as the angry black girl but as the self-determined, fully realized young adult who can play many parts even if she never steps foot on a stage again.