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Mixed Blessing: A Children’s Book About a Multiracial Family by Marsha Cosman
A good amateur writer’s effort at rhyming and cohesive story. The story is accessible and realistic, easily allowing a child to see the beauty of difference and how difference exists amongst people and animals. The rhyme is mostly on but off sometimes and she chooses some language that to me reads as raising mixed ethnicity to a superior level over non-mixed ethnicity but I’m just going to find a way to reword those two pages. The illustration is vivid and realistic.
Recommendation: Recommended; ages 3-6
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
An African Princess by Lyra Edmonds
This is a lovely, simple story that deals with some complex identity issues without allowing any of those issues to feel heavy. A Mixed Heritage girl goes on a journey that affirms all the parts of her identity—Caribbean African Princess and United States acculturated, freckle-faced, city girl. At the center of this story is Lyra—a freckle-faced brown girl who lives on the tenth floor of an apartment building in the city but her mom tells her she is an African Princess. Starting with the light mentioning of Lyra’s African Princess ancestor captured from Africa and taken to the Caribbean, the story then moves to showing Lyra’s life as a city princess in the United States. Illustrated with collages, that make the reader feel like they are in the middle of an African Diaspora quilt world, the story of African quilts and robes that have traveled around the world as physical surviving representations of African heritage is shown without being told.
When the kids make fun of her for claiming to be an African Princess, Lyra’s family plans a visit to see her mother’s kin in the Caribbean. Daddy, from whom Lyra has presumably inherited the reddish hair and freckles, helps Lyra count down the days to the trip. In the Caribbean, Lyra’s great aunt, shows her quilts made by hand which they use as Lyra’s royal robes. Lyra’s aunt also explains that from the original African princess in their family who had many children—there are now African Princesses all over the world and Lyra is one of them. After the visit to the Caribbean, Lyra is stronger in her identity as an African Princess. I like the fact that she doesn’t have to give up any part of her heritage to be the African Princess descended from a long line of African Princesses.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended;Age: 5+
Reviewed by: Omilaju Miranda
The Rabbits’ Wedding by Garth Williams
In this delightful story meant to parallel interracial relationships, a black rabbit and white rabbit play together in the forest. In between games, the black rabbit keeps “just thinking.” He doesn’t tell the white rabbit what he is thinking until half way through the book when she insists that he share his thoughts. He tells her that he wishes he could be with her forever but he knows that can’t happen. The white rabbit tells the Black Rabbit that he can have his wish if he wishes hard enough for it. When he tells her that he wants to be with her forever, she agrees to be with him forever and ever. The animals of the forest come out to celebrate their wedding.
This is a good book to demonstrate to children that wishes can come true, the importance of telling a person that you love them when you do, and the obvious: that physical differences especially skin/fur color should never stop people from deciding to be together forever. I’m not a huge fan of the “I’m thinking” motif used in the story or the fact that the only bunnies that come to their wedding are the black bunnies—I actually found the latter quite disturbing as it was illustrated clearly without being mentioned in the text. Other than those exceptions, I think ‘The Rabbits’ Wedding’ is a lovely way to introduce small children to the idea of obviously different people being friends and marriage partners.
Recommendation: Recommended; Ages 4+
Book Review by Omilaju Miranda
Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids by Kip Fulbeck
From featuring Russian/Korean children who love soccer to Black/Indian children who like talking and drawing with their younger brothers, Kip Fulbeck’s highly acclaimed photo essay, which has traveled life sized as an art exhibition around the country presents photos of Mixed Kids with a description of their racial/ethnic backgrounds and a short essay from the parents or the child on their lives. Despite the photo of the child of multiracial African descent on the front cover, the book has more photos of children of multiracial Asian Descent (Hapa) than any other ethnicities. One of the most comprehensive sources celebrating mixed kids this reviewer has ever seen, a child with racial/ethnic heritages from all parts of the world will find several or more children with whom to physically identify, as well as get to know beyond the surface level, when reading this book.
Recommendation:Highly Recommended for all; Ages 0-Adult
Book Review by: Omilaju Miranda
TV movie “A Country Christmas Story”
At the outset, this is the story of a small-town, white Appalachian mother and her “brown-skinned biracial” daughter who are living heartbreakingly poor lives in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee three years after a divorce. The emotionally and economically burdened mother is inflexible in her demand that her daughter commit to math while the daughter wants nothing more than to sing and play guitar like her absent father. When the father returns, both parents think a black girl singing country music is a joke but Grace, (who reminds her parents that she is both black and white) and Grace’s teacher have set as their goal Grace winning Dolly Parton’s Teen Country Star of Tomorrow Contest. Grace and her teacher gain confidence by educating themselves and her parents on the history of blacks and interracial alliances in Country Music. But race relation history takes up less than five minutes of this T.V. movie.
The emotional pull of the story is multi-layered as three generations of mothers and daughters find themselves torn over the demons of their pasts of insecurity and self-doubt vs. their emotional freedom to support Gracie in pursuing her dream. Added conflict comes in the form of the feelings every family member and people in the town have about the father, Danny, who most think abandoned the family; the truth is much more depthful and contoured than a simple abandonment story. I’ll leave it at that since I don’t want to post any spoilers. The father is refreshingly more emotionally complex than a stock, machismo black man; the social spheres of these characters’ lives are filled with people invested in the characters and not the societal issues that influence their world. Even though Dolly Parton and NBC have shined a light on the existence of blacks and mixed people in an oft-forgotten part of the United States –Appalachia, this is a story about a girl’s family and small, country community supporting her as she follows her heart and the music on a path of family unity. I missed the original airing of this movie on NBC but I downloaded it for $0.99 from Amazon.com last night and, since it moved me to tears with great writing for t.v., unexpected plot twists and well developed characters who work their way through all sorts of complex mistakes—you should see this moving story.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
Bluish by Virginia Hamiliton
Most of the time I pick books for my children based on their experiences so they know they are not the only ones. Many times, I pick books to introduce adventures we plan to do or places we plan to go. Often I pick books that reinforce our family’s values or our ways of being. But sometimes I come across a book with a new character—a character with a life story we have not encountered yet, but I know we will.
The image on the cover of the book shows three girls in knit hats with varying skin tones and facial features. Natalie is identified as Jewish and Black and her mom bristles at the idea of kids calling her “Blewish”, not realizing her nickname “Bluish” has more to do with blue tint of her skin tone because of her illness. Dreenie and the third girl on the cover are never labeled with a particular heritage although Dreenie calls herself a “sorta sweet chocolate color” and calls Tuli “more honey color.” At one point, Dreenie’s little sister taunts her by saying, “I know who your mama ain’t, Drain. Because you sure ain’t one of us Anneva and Gerald Browns!” causing me to wonder if Dreenie was adopted but there is no more mention of this leaving me confused. But I am not the only one confused– honey-colored Tuli is right there with me. Tulifoolie pretends to speak Spanish singing out phrases, “chica-chica, do the mambo” and calling folks “muchcha” but is told by a Spanish speaking girl that she “gives Spanish kids a bad name.” Tuli lives with her grandmom in a not-so-good part of town. Tuli’s aunt is mentioned but never a mention of a mother or father–and no mention to confirm if she is indeed Latina. Your young reader might not have the need to know the exact heritage of Dreenie and Tuli and therefore might escape the confusion I experienced. All three girls play a major role in the story and present very different individuals who come together as friends. And that is a theme with which many readers can relate.
Recommendation: This book is appropriate for readers ages 9-14.
Reviewer: Amanda Setty
Sofie’s Role by Amy Heath
Sofie’s mom and dad own the Broadway Bakery, it is Christmas Eve, and Sofie is excited to be working in the front of her parents’ bakery for the first time. Usually she works in the back with dad but today she is going to work with mom and the college students in the front. The hustle and bustle of the bakery is punctuated by the author’s use of onomatopoeia. Children and the adults reading will enjoy making the sounds of adults gulping and sipping, machines whushing to make bread, the galumping of the mixer as they progress through the story. Each illustration is an action painting that brings to life the organized chaos of the work day on Christmas eve at the bakery. The reader will journey with Sofie from being overwhelmed by the rush of customers’ demands to finding the way that she can be helpful. We see that Papa is Caucasian and Mama is African American but Sofie and her families ethnicities are never mentioned.
Recommendation: Recommended; Age: 4-7
Book Review by Omilaju Miranda.
The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier
Have you ever read one of those books which prompts such a good discussion you begin planning how to give it as birthday present to your child’s friends? Or you find yourself suggesting it to random bi-racial families at parties? Well, that is how The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier hit me.
Minni and Keira King, 11-year old fraternal twins shake up people’s ideas of genetics and how bi-racial siblings should look. Born to a Caucasian dad and an African-American mom, Minni has red hair and light skin while Keira has tight afro puffs and dark skin. The girls live in a mostly Caucasian town in Washington State, but for the summer they are traveling to their maternal grandmother’s hometown in North Carolina to enter Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America Pageant, just as their mom did as a girl. The change in location offers a big change in demographics and stirs up issues between the girls. Minni wonders if she will be “black” enough. Keira is excited to finally be in a place where she can shine.
Part of their father’s reason for wanting to send them to the South was so they can get in touch with their black roots and their mother’s family, and the girls do. Both girls hear family stories and spend time looking at old photos of family members with varying degrees of skin tone. Minni has a particularly moving experience in church listening to the choir sing and being part of the community. Later, the girls’ grandmother, Minerva Johnson-Payne, surprises them with a photo of her sitting behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Grandmother Johnson talks of her experience as one out of five African American teachers at an all-white school and how hard she worked to prove “quality is colorless”. Although not her intent, it is the girls’ grandmother who educates the reader on the subtle ways African-Americans are made to feel inferior to Caucasians. She is always reminding Keira to put on sunscreen to avoid letting her skin get any darker. She also takes Keira to a salon to get her hair relaxed, even though their mother is completely against it. Not until the end does Minni build enough confidence to confront her grandmother about her hurtful comments toward Keira.
Even though I do love the concept of this book, I have a couple of criticisms. Grandmother Johnson never has enough story time to redeem herself. The girls rebel against her old-fashioned, strict ideas and domineering ways by pranking their grandmother and making fun of her behind her back. I wish the author had spent less time setting up the pageant and more time allowing for the girls and their grandmother to truly connect and understand one another. The story is told from Minni’s point of view, yet I think with more from Keira the story would be much richer with many avenues for young readers to identify with both sisters. And the mom just plain bothers me. It seems her method of protecting her children from possible hurt is to hide them away. There are no photos of the girls in the media, even though they are world famous for their opposite features. She seems to want to avoid the topic of race instead telling them they are not a color but strong humans. While this may be told with good intentions, this approach does not serve them well as they face the world outside their little foursome. In fact the girls seem completely unprepared for how to deal with questions regarding their looks and the feelings stirred up when they are affected by racism.
Even though this book focuses on black-white dynamic, I believe it brings up many great topics all families of mixed heritage will face.
Recommendation: I highly recommend this book for readers ages 9-13.
Book Review by Amanda Setty
My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman
I sucked this book down like a mango lassi. It was smooth, sweet and went down quickly. So quickly, in fact I read it in 24 hours. And then like my girls, I sat back, took a breath and dove back in for a second reading, running my finger along the side of the cup looking for some goodness that I left behind.
Paula J. Freedman created a strong female character, for which I thank her. Tara Feinstein is the girl we all want our daughters to be. She has her own fashion style—
vintage. She plays hoops with her best boyfriend. She still plays dress up at the age of 12 with her best girlfriend. She is pumped to join the robotics team. She is not afraid to stand up for herself, although she is learning to manage it with words and not fists. She also stands up for others, especially when they need a friend. She gives second chances, preferring to see the good in people. She questions her beliefs and seeks for answers.
But life is not all easy peazy lemon squeezy for Tara. She and her friends are going through a season of preteen changes—bat mitzvahs, changing bodies, shifting relationships and first crushes. As Tara prepares for her own bat mitzvah she struggles to understand how she can be Indian, like her mother, Jewish, like her father and remain herself. How can she be Jewish if she is not even sure she believes in God? If she goes through with this Bat Mitzvah, does that mean she is picking her “Jewish side” over her “Indian side”? Will she only date and marry Jewish boys, like her other Jewish friends? My Basmati Bat Mitzvah raises topics many of our bi-racial, bi-cultural children will face or are facing. Tara’s voice is honest and sturdy, allowing readers from all backgrounds to easily put themselves in her place.
On my second read of the book, I unfortunately did not find many leftover bits of goodness stuck to the side of my cup. I found myself bothered by the underdeveloped characters, orbiting around Tara. I wanted more connection with her parents. Tara’s Jewish Gran and her Indian Auntie seem a bit too stereotypical for my liking. And many of Freedman’s characters seemed like superficial offerings- the immigrant child gone wild, the Korean adopted child, the always in trouble child with ADHD, the Muslim child whose father jokes about getting her married at the age of 12, and the perfect child who turns out to have trichotillomania and problems with shoplifting. Perhaps this book would be a good fit for a book group or classroom, so readers could find ways to make these distinctive characters more vibrant and “finish” them. I was also bothered that the robotics club storyline just disappeared. It held such promise of a preteen girl not only psyched about science but also talented, and then offered us nothing except for scenes of teenage romance and angst. The one bright point in my re-read was to explore Tara’s special relationship with her open-minded and very patient rabbi. Every teenager needs to connect with a trustworthy adult outside of their family.
Recommendation: I recommend this book for ages 12-14. The writing itself is suited for ages 9+ but some of the topics, such as, first heterosexual kiss and a friend suffering from trichotillomania might be better received by an older reader.
Book Reviewer: Amanda Setty
Book Review for How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
A Caucasian USAmerican sailor and Japanese student fall in love after dating for a year but they’ve never eaten together! In a suspenseful, delightful story we learn how they overcame their anxieties over how to eat “Japanese” (with chopsticks) and “Western” (with knife and fork) and got engaged. The narration is sweet and this is a simply told, dynamic story that you and your children will enjoy.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended; Age: 5+
Book Reviewer: Omilaju Miranda
Diverse Kids Books--Reviews 