Taraji P. Henson comes an inspiring and funny book about family, friends, the hustle required to make it from Washington, DC, to Hollywood, and the joy of living in your own truth. With a sensibility that recalls her beloved screen characters-including the iconic Cookie from Empire-yet is all Taraji, the actress writes of her family, the one she was born into and the one she created. She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life's challenges, and of her mother, who survived violence both in the home and on DC's volatile streets. Around the Way Girl is also a classic actor's memoir in which Taraji reflects on the world-class instruction she received at Howard University and the pitfalls that come with being a black actress in Hollywood. With laugh-out-loud humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of the actor's journey and shows us that, behind the red-carpet moments, Taraji is ever authentic. She is, at heart, just a girl in pursuit of her dreams.