Dreamist

Young Adult Fiction. African American Studies. For Charles Malik Jacobs, the summer of junior year will change everything. He dreams about being a writer someday, but for now, he's just dreaming. Exceptionally bright, he wins a gifted artist scholarship to Cal State. While there, however, he can't help but think about what he is leaving behind in Chicago—family, friends and more importantly, his former self. He relies on photographs to help him see what he believes he has lost. What Malik doesn't know is that he will gain much more this summer, including the love of someone named Bleu.

I am smart. Extremely smart, so says my parents, friends and teachers. But it doesn't register. I don't see it, at least not like they see it.... I'm a bit lazy—a daydreamer. My father, a big fan of mine, persecutes me about my laziness, how I will daydream my life away.