"[brought] tears to my eyes ..." -- Kamilah"This book was great" -- Natalie"I felt like I knew the characters." -- Tonya They thought she was the richest girl in school. Little did they know, she was frontin' the whole time.Elena never meant to deceive anyone. She just wanted to fit in. Being a new girl in a rich school isn't easy, especially when you're broke and even worse when you clean houses at night with your maid mom. But will Elena let the pressure get to her? How long can she keep up the facade that she's as rich as everyone else? And what will happen when everyone finds out she's been frontin' the whole time?If you are a fan of the Bluford High Series, then you'll love this book. Whether it is Survivor, Promises to Keep, The Test, Lost and Found, The Bully, The Gun, Until We Meet Again, The Fallen, Brothers in Arms, A Matter of Trust, Shattered, Blood is Thicker, Summer of Secrets, Pretty Ugly, Schooled, Someone to Love Me, Secrets in the Shadows, Breaking Point, No Way Out, or Search for Safety, Bluford Series has proven that readers want books they can relate to. That's what the author of this series, J.J. Alston has set out to prove.Though it is not preachy, this novel has Christian and inspirational themes. More About the Author What inspired you to write this book? This book was inspired by my own experiences having an immigrant stepfather and having to clean doctors offices during middle school with my mother at night. I was always proud of my parents but I can definitely understand what it's like to be embarrassed by your family at times. We grew up extremely poor and I definitely would have loved for people to believe that I was rich. I actually knew a girl in middle school who did exactly that, she pretended she was rich and no one knew where she actually lived. She hid it for as long as she could and I often wondered what would happen if someone found out. This book deals with immigration. Do you think this is really something students are dealing with?Definitely now, more than ever. They say, for example, that 1 in 4 kids in the United States are Hispanic so those whose parents did not grow up American, probably had immigrant parents. It's going to become more and more of an issue. I know what it's like to want to fit in and at the same time want to be proud of your heritage. The characters you created from the mom to the main character seem so real. How did you create such well-rounded characters?I really worked hard to not have too flat characters. So, the way I did it was base them on people I know or the combination of people I know. It's not easy and it's probably the most challenging part of writing for me at times. Will you be writing more short YA novels? Absolutely. The challenge for me is to write something that is uplifting but at the same time not corny and yet entertaining for readers. It ain't easy but I love the challenge.
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