A Quantum Life (Adapted for Young Adults)

June 1, 2023
Adapted for young adults, this edition of a well-received memoir from 2021 chronicles the personal and educational paths of a Black astrophysicist. By the fourth grade, Oluseyi knew he was different from his peers. The future scholar and scientist read quickly through textbooks unprompted and would "feel restless" waiting for everyone else to catch up. Though from New Orleans, he moved around quite often as a child. During a year and a half of instability, he rotated among nine homes and five schools. But it was in Mississippi, where Oluseyi settled, that he became, by high school, a "committed man of science." This adaptation keeps the story intact, slightly condensing chapters to highlight material of greatest relevance to the book's intended audience. The underlying theme of discipline, something Oluseyi learned about while participating in his high school marching band, permeates the second half of the book. Readers learn about his struggles at Tougaloo, a historically Black college near Jackson, with selling and using drugs and his later recovery in rehab. Later, at Stanford University's Graduate School of Physics, his mentor, the department's only professor of color, affirms his experiences and pursuits. Readers will delight in the cinematic storytelling and clear, fearless writing, and many will identify with Oluseyi's unwavering dedication to his educational goals despite setbacks and detours, while others may find inspiration for their own personal and academic journeys. Unflinchingly honest; a memoir in which young readers can find useful lessons. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 13-18)

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Starred review from June 1, 2023
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* This absorbing, suspenseful memoir depicts the author's journey of transformation from James Plummer Jr., neglected child of a drug dealer, to Hakeem Oluseyi, celebrated Black astrophysicist. As a child, Li'l Jame was moved constantly between poor neighborhoods in New Orleans, L.A., and Houston and his family's bootlegging, pot-farming operation in backwoods Mississippi. Bullied from an early age, Plummer focused on his passions: chess and bridge, comic books and mythology, and, later, marching band and computer programming. After reading the World Book entry for Einstein at age 10, he became instantly hooked on physics. His daddy was a bigger-than-life figure who loved his son--and was also the dealer who introduced him to crack cocaine. Each hard-won achievement (attending Tougaloo College and Stanford University, getting married and becoming a father, winning a place on the research team of his renowned mentor, Black physicist Art Walker) was followed by a return to drugs and a double life. Finally, he entered rehab. In changing his name to Hakeem Oluseyi just before his PhD thesis defense, he claimed his identity and self-acceptance. Oluseyi's unflinching honesty and love of science, and the ever-present threat of a tragic end, will keep readers riveted. Each short chapter tells a full story in lively prose, making this account ideal for its intended audience.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2023

Gr 10 Up-Before he became Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, a NASA astrophysicist, he was just James Plummer, Jr., whose life wasn't a straight line to success. Instead, instability reigned with a single mother and constant moving. He had a higher-than-average IQ and a need for scientific knowledge, but instead found trouble. Dubbed the gangsta physicist, Oluseyi provides an introspective look at his ascension to a credentialed scientist by combating addiction and discrimination with grit. For this young adult adaptation, Oluseyi includes Horwitz to help shift the narrative. Still focused on his rocky rise into the world of doctoral work and discovery in STEM, the shorter chapters keep a steady pace focused on his relationships; first with his sister who did most of the caretaking, then with the father he would see during the summers. Then there were his romantic relationships, drug affiliations, and ultimately his children and his mentor. Readers get attached to Oluseyi who bares all, provides inspiration, and celebrates science. Reaching through the pages to tell his story without editing the obstacles makes it tangible. The honesty is also what connects it to similar memoirs like Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Becoming by Michelle Obama. VERDICT By celebrating a Black academic in the STEM field, this scientist's memoir envisions a place for anyone who has a dream that the possibility is there to achieve it. Purchase it for teen nonfiction collections everywhere.-Alicia Abdul

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