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SMART GIRL

A FIRST-GEN ORIGIN STORY

By: La'Tonya Rease Miles

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Paperback | 25 February 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
284 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.96

Paperback

$31.88

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Smart Girl: A First-Gen Origin Story is an award-winning, accessible memoir about what it really means to be "the smart one" in a working-class Black family coming of age in the late-80s and 90s-squarely in the heart of Gen X. Raised to believe she was destined for college, Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles traces a winding road through nine public schools, a PWI, an HBCU, food insecurity, racism, graduate school at UCLA, and the quiet weight of upward mobility. With cultural touchstones ranging from Prince to college basketball to 90s hip hop, she blends sharp analysis with emotional honesty, showing how fandom, family, and resilience become survival tools.

*2025 IngramSpark Top Indie Pick

*2025 Catalyst Awards winner - Best Memoir

Industry Reviews

"There are few people who have a broader perspective on the first gen community than LT. Her work as an educator, leader, and founder speaks for itself. Yet in Smart Girl, LT pulls back the curtain to deliver her most powerful perspective yet - her own as a first gen student. Smart Girl is a moving, intimate, and inclusive portrait of the first gen experience by one of its fiercest advocates."

Alejandra Campoverdi, national bestselling author of FIRST GEN

"[Smart Girl] includes details that help to show what college life is really like and how seemingly small hiccups can derail a student. I think those can resonate with current students who are working really hard to make it to that graduation stage."

Prof. Shantal Marshall, Nevada State University

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Biographies & True Stories Biographies Education Higher & Further Education Family & Health Relationships & Families: Advice & Issues

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SMART GIRL

A FIRST-GEN ORIGIN STORY

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Biographies

Bread of Angels

The Mushroom Tapes

Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial

Paul Weller: Dancing Through the Fire

The Authorised Oral History: The Sunday Times Bestseller

Strong Female Character

Nero Book Awards Winner

Into the Magic Shop

The Glass Castle

The New York Times Bestseller - Two Million Copies Sold

Billie Eilish

Between the Stops

The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus: the long-awaited memoir from the star of QI and The Great British Bake Off

Dark Squares

A cult leader, a child prodigy and the chess revolution

The Sober Diaries

How one woman stopped drinking and started living

Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!

My Memoir

Careless People

A story of where I used to work

I'm Not Mad (Anymore)

How not to lose it

A Fortunate Life

The Australian Classic

Where It All Went Wrong

The case against John Howard

The Town Like No Other

A Story of Broken Hill

Steve Irwin

A Little Golden Book Biography

You with the Sad Eyes

An unflinchingly honest and darkly funny memoir

Oscar Piastri

The Rapid Rise Of An F1 Star

50 Philosophy Classics

Thinking, Being, Acting Seeing - Profound Insights and Powerful Thinking from Fifty Key Books

Rasputin

And the Downfall of the Romanovs

Have I Told You This Already?

Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember - the New York Times bestseller from the Gilmore Girls star

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The Life of Kobe Bryant

The 5 Types of Wealth

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