From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Zoe Washington’s situation grabs at our heartstrings: On her 12th birthday she receives a letter from the father she’s never known - a letter from prison. She knew Marcus had been convicted of a terrible crime, but she’s been growing up happily with her mom and stepdad, with her birth father firmly out of mind.

But in the letter Marcus claims he’s innocent, and Zoe sets out to uncover the secret of his incarceration. The issues in this book go beyond the promising new father-daughter relationship, extending to the systemic racism of the US criminal courts. It’s a challenging but… show more.

I love questions about what ties us to our families. Is it blood? Time? Love? Zoe has always thought of her stepdad as her dad, but when she discovers a letter from her imprisoned birth dad, whom she’s never met and assumed had forgotten about her, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her family.

A fan of reality baking shows, I was first drawn to this book because the protagonist Zoe dreams of becoming a star baker and wants to audition for the Food Network’s Kids Bake Challenge. Once I learned that the author was inspired by true stories of wrongful convictions, it went to the top of my TBR pile and became my favorite 2020 read. This middle-grade contemporary meets mystery follows Zoe who’s determined to uncover if her father—who she’s never met because he’s been in prison—is innocent of the crime. For those looking for an engaging, heartwarming story tackling the… show more.

When Zoe Washington stumbles upon a letter from her incarcerated biological father and decides to write him back, it changes everything. As they connect through their letters and a shared love of music and food, Zoe also learns some startling revelations about his story that make her question what she knows to be true. How could an innocent man end up in prison? She plans to find out. Zoe grows into her own over the course of this book, developing a deep sense of determination, empathy, and justice.