The Chosen One

Dartmouth made many promises it couldn't keep. The campus is not a rainbow-colored utopia where education lifts every voice. Nor is it a paradise of ideas, an incubator of inclusivity, or even an exciting dating scene. But it might be a portal to different dimensions of time and space—only accessible if Echo accepts her calling as a Chosen One and takes charge of her future by healing her past. This remarkable challenge demands vulnerability, humility, and the conviction to ask for help without sacrificing self-worth. In mesmerizing personal narrative and magical realism, Echo Brown confronts mental illness, grief, racism, love, friendship, ambition, self-worth, and belonging as they steer the fates of first-generation college students at Dartmouth. The Chosen One is an unforgettable coming-of-age story that bravely unpacks the double-edged college transition—as both catalyst for old wounds and a fresh start. Finalist for the Ohioana Book Award A Mary Sue Best YA Novel of the Year 2022 Catalyst Award Nominee for Best Memoir A Junior Library Guild Selection ★ “Powerful and vulnerable"—Booklist, starred review​ ★"The story asks readers to examine the various intersections of their own identities as they reflect upon the circumstances that shape Echo’s reality . . .Echo and her crew will defy the many odds stacked against them." ―BCCB, starred review