Rising Class

Fully Booked by Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Pick
A Missouri Association of School Librarians Dogwood Reading List Selection
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

“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 … Family members’ supportive and occasionally opposing viewpoints illustrate the complex ways that being a first-generation student affects the whole family … The book ends on a hopeful note, emphasizing the students’ resilience. Many students will feel seen; others will find their eyes opened.” –Kirkus Reviews

“This is a wonderfully pieced together narrative of three students’ experiences as first-generation college students in the midst of a pandemic … 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 … 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.” –School Library Journal

“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

“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, even when that light isn’t particularly favorable.” –The Bulletin

“Eye-opening … The students’ social and academic anxieties are heightened by national goings-on, such as increased protests against police brutality and the arrival of Covid-19 in the U.S. Brief, accessibly narrated alternating chapters interwoven with newspaper headlines provide glimpses into the teens’ daily lives. 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

“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

Jennifer Miller is the author of four critically acclaimed books, Inheriting the Holy Land, The Year of the Gadfly, The Heart You Carry Home, and Mr. Nice Guy. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post, and has written extensively on education, mental health, and about disenfranchised communities, including military veterans, Native Americans, and the rural working class. She has taught undergraduates and graduate writing students at Columbia University and has been a thesis adviser at both the Columbia School of the Arts and the Journalism School.

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