Thirteen years after its release in 1996,[1] the novel was made into the 2009 film Precious, which won numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards.

In 1987, Claireece Precious Jones is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old girl who lives in Harlem, New York, with her abusive mother Mary.

She meets her teacher, Ms. Blu Rain, and fellow students Rhonda, Jermaine, Rita, Jo Ann, and Consuelo.

The works of classic African-American writers such as Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and Langston Hughes are inspirational for the students.

While in the hospital giving birth to her son Abdul Jamal Louis Jones, Precious tells a social worker that her first child is living with her grandmother.

The narrative prose, told from Precious' voice, continually improves in terms of grammar and spelling and is even peppered with imagery and similes.

As her attitude changes and her confidence grows, Precious thinks about having a boyfriend and a real relationship with someone near her age who attracts her interest.

The meetings provide a source of support and friendship for Precious and the revelation that her color and socioeconomic background did not necessarily cause her abuse.

Some consider "the harrowing story line [to be] exaggerated," saying that it does not seem realistic to "saddle one fictional character with so many problems straight from today's headlines" (Glenn).

Others have stated that while the dialect is problematic, Precious herself is believable because she "speaks in a darting stream of consciousness of her days in an unexpectedly evocative fashion" (Mahoney).

She uses a "minimal English that defies the conventions of spelling and usage and dispenses all verbal decorum" (Mahoney).

Michiko Kakutani, a book reviewer for The New York Times, states that Precious' "voice conjures up [her] gritty unforgiving world."

(Push, p. 13)As the book progresses and Precious learns to read and write, there is a stark change in her voice, though the dialect remains the same.