I assumed all blocks everywhere were like it—as many languages as sidewalk cracks.
-- Quiara (narration) (chapter 1)

Importance: Quiara was originally born and raised in a very diverse neighborhood of West Philadelphia. As Quiara states in this line of narration, she assumed as a child that such diversity of language, culture, and heritage was a normal and universal experience. Unfortunately, as she later discovered, such multiculturalism is a rarity in the highly segregated United States.

Malvern was only an hour outside Philly, but it was a whole different universe…We had moved to a monolingual, pale world.
-- Quiara (narration) (chapter 4)

Importance: When Quiara was still a fairly young child, she and her parents moved to the predominantly white suburban town of Malvern, Pennsylvania. In contrast to West Philadelphia, Malvern was not racially, culturally, or linguistically diverse. Quiara and her mother were two of the very few people of color in the town. Quiara felt like an outsider in...