Soul Survivors consists of three sections of persona poems where each storyteller introduces themselves-their neighborhoods, families, friends, activities, thoughts, and feelings-speaking to whomever can and will listen. LaChelle hails from East Oakland, CA, April is from the Pittsburgh neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta, GA, and Naima was born and raised in East Flatbush Brooklyn, NY. These girls' communities and lives have been shaped by political, economic, and social changes to their neighborhoods and schools and by personal and community practices of hope and healing. The fictionalized speakers are all teenagers, yet the book implores adult readers to mentally and emotionally explore this real-life complex navigation along with the characters.