Lanesha, the protagonist, is a young Black American girl living in the Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2005. She turns 12 on the day the story opens and recently started middle school in a building that is new to her this year. Lanesha’s mother died giving birth to her, and she does not know who her father is. Lanesha was raised from birth with the woman who helped her mother through the delivery, a midwife whom everyone calls Mama Ya-Ya. Lanesha loves Mama Ya-Ya like a mother or grandmother.

Lanesha loves school and eagerly walks there every day. To her, weekends are more difficult because she would rather be preoccupied with her books, lessons, and classes; when TaShon tells her that school is closed due to the impending weather, Lanesha does not want to believe him: “It’s hard enough that there’s a Saturday and Sunday. I’m less lonely at school with my teachers and books” (73). She likes language arts and her teacher Miss Perry, who teaches the class new vocabulary like “fortitude.” Lanesha’s favorite subject, though, is math. She takes lessons one day a week after school with Miss Johnson to learn harder problems, and when Lanesha tries to go to school on the day it closes for the storm, Miss Johnson gives her a pre-algebra book for self-study.