PUSH by Sapphire is an extraordinarily popular book among teenagers. Here is its description:

Claireece Precious Jones endures unimaginable hardships in her young life. Abused by her mother, raped by her father, she grows up poor, angry, illiterate, fat, unloved and generally unnoticed. So what better way to learn about her than through her own, halting dialect. That is the device deployed in the first novel by poet and singer Sapphire. “Sometimes I wish I was not alive,” Precious says. “But I don’t know how to die. Ain’ no plug to pull out. ‘N no matter how bad I feel my heart don’t stop beating and my eyes open in the morning.” An intense story of adversity and the mechanisms to cope with it.

This month, PUSH is coming to movie theaters as Precious. You can see the trailer at the link.

The National Center For Family Literacy is working with the film distributor, who will offer literacy tips on its website. The film will also be in limited release in November to help recognize National Family Literacy Month.