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Summary
Chapter Six
Bri goes searching for Aunt Pooh in the Maple Grove projects, which her grandma describes as the rough side of town. Bri reflects on how little power she and her family have over their lives, and she wants to ask Aunt Pooh if she knows how they can get their power back. Bri sees Jo-Jo, a ten-year-old boy who is a fan of Bri’s songs and who wants to join the Garden Disciples.
Bri tells Aunt Pooh and her friend Scrap what happened at school with Long and Tate, explaining why she got suspended. Aunt Pooh is instantly enraged and threatens violent revenge against the security guards. Bri is worried for her aunt’s safety, so she tells Aunt Pooh not to take any action.
Aunt Pooh encourages Bri to rap for her and her friends. While Aunt Pooh keeps the beat on the hood of a car, Bri raps about the Ten Snack Commandments, a riff off of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments.” The gang members love her rap, and Bri feels at home there. Aunt Pooh again offers to “handle” the security guards who threw Bri to the ground, but Bri makes it clear that she doesn’t want her to do anything. Aunt Pooh agrees, but tells Bri that all she has to do is say the word if she changes her mind.
Aunt Pooh gives Bri some advice about getting through high school, and Bri says she thinks of Aunt Pooh as her personal Yoda. They talk about how hard things are financially and how Bri’s “come up” is the key to solving her family’s money problems. Aunt Pooh tells Bri that she has booked her studio time to record a song. Bri is excited, but they are interrupted in the middle of the conversation by someone who wants to buy drugs from Aunt Pooh. Scrap tells Bri that she could be a hero to people in the Garden and that she gives people hope.
Chapter Seven
Bri’s brother Trey has been searching for Bri and comes to Maple Grove to find her. Aunt Pooh, Scrap, and others in the neighborhood start to make fun of Trey because he makes pizzas for a living. They view Trey’s job as embarrassing and demeaning, even more so because he was a golden boy at school and is Lawless’s son.
Bri and Trey talk as they drive home. Trey tells Bri how worried Jay is about her and says she shouldn’t be hanging out with Aunt Pooh, given her gang affiliation. Bri notes that ever since Trey got a degree in psychology, he sometimes behaves like a therapist. They have a heart-to-heart talk about the security guards at school, and Trey says Bri has oppositional-defiant disorder. Trey reveals that he has been spending time with Kayla, also known as Ms. Tique, a female rapper that Bri admires. Trey tells Bri that no matter what happens, he will always take care of her.
Analysis
Bri’s rap for the Garden Disciples highlights the significance of candy as a symbol of misconstrued innocence. The “Ten Snack Commandments” is a playful yet cynical parody of The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments,” a song that lays out the ground rules for selling drugs on the street. By mimicking that song, Bri draws an explicit comparison between her harmless candy-dealing and the dealing of illicit narcotics. On one level, Bri’s playful lyrics incorporate innocent and endearing snack-related imagery, like “bubble guts and Taco Bell” and “sell more cookies than that famous named Amos.” On the other hand, she references getting robbed on the playground and getting stopped by the police. When she says the police won’t listen before killing her and making her a hashtag, she acknowledges that the innocence of her candy-dealing doesn’t matter to the police. Like Long and Tate, police will treat her like a drug dealer simply because she is Black.
To cope with the disempowerment she experiences as a Black girl, Bri often alludes to fantasy worlds that involve magical or mystical powers, such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. For example, when she is describing her neighborhood and Maple Grove, she compares the two areas to different sides of the Death Star, driving home the idea that danger is everywhere. When describing how she feels in the halls of her high school, Bri compares it to walking around in an invisibility cloak, a reference to the magical clothing in Harry Potter that renders the wearer invisible. When Aunt Pooh advises Bri to ignore other people’s perceptions of her, Bri compares Aunt Pooh to Yoda, a reference to the wise creature who serves as the hero’s spiritual guide in Star Wars. Bri’s preoccupation with these fantasy worlds is often derided as “nerdy” by her family and other members of her community. However, Bri looks to these fantasy worlds to help her understand herself, her world, and her relationships.
Bri also views her brother as a source of wisdom. Trey bucks the conventions of the Garden Heights neighborhood, ignoring what people say about him, working long hours at the pizza shop, and deferring his dream of going to graduate school to support his family. Trey brushes off the merciless teasing from Aunt Pooh, Scrap, and the other Garden Disciples for working at a pizza shop, declining to engage or fight back. Bri notes that Trey has always been criticized for being “too soft, not street enough, not hood enough,” but he doesn’t seem to care. This stands in contrast to Bri, who is deeply concerned with what others think about her. When Bri feels misunderstood, she does fight back, becoming harder, angrier, and more “street.” Her angry reaction, ironically, serves to reinforce the false perception that Bri is a threat. The more mature Trey, in contrast, stays true to his values without letting others get under his skin.
