Chapter 1 Summary

Claireece Precious Jones is sixteen years old. She should be a junior in high school, but is only in ninth grade. She was held back in second grade because she couldn't read and peed on herself. When she was twelve, she left school to give birth to her daughter, who was born with Down's Syndrome. The baby is her father's. Precious says he has been raping her since she was in second grade.

Everyone who knows Claireece well calls her Precious. Precious starts writing her story on September 24, 1987. She is on her way to Mr. Wicher's math class. She likes Mr. Wicher even though she yelled at him on the first day of school. She calls him a "mutherfucker" when he tells her to open her book to page 122 because she does not want him or anyone else to know that she does...