Salmon Croquettes

In 1965 Watts, Los Angeles, twelve year old Zayla Lucille McKinney lives in The Circle, a close knit Black community where everybody knows everybody and front porch gossip travels faster than the speed of light. She has a father who loves her loudly enough to fill any room, a mother who manages her image like a liability, and a best friend who has always known her better than she knows herself. What Zayla does not have is a word for who she is.

When her first kiss behind the school auditoriu...