“IT ISN’T MY FAULT I WAS BORN LIKE THIS!” I shriek.
“Yeah. Me either, and yet I’m the one who always has to defend my right to be alive.”
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This is one of those books that is challenging to review. It was challenging to read. And I think that’s the point. Color Me In focuses on a mixed race girl named Neveah – half Jewish and half Black, this girl cannot win. She does not fit in with either side of her heritage and it disrupts every second of her life, especially now as her parents are divorcing. Her life as a girl who lives her life generally passing for White is now living with her mother’s Black family and her cousins are relentless pointing out to her the bias in her life due to her privilege. You feel for her. You feel for her cousins. You feel for her Jewish family who she also hasn’t embraced. This girl is caught between many challenging identities and her greatest challenge is to figure out how to claim her own, honoring every ounce of who she is.
I definitely had feelings reading this book. Many of which I know that I cannot appropriately put to words. Others of which, I have no right to. If you enjoyed The Hate U Give, Angel of Greenwood or any of Elizabeth Acevedo’s work (Neveah is a writer and performer so those vibes are similar and yet unique) then I’d recommend checking this one out.
What’s the last book that challenged your view of the world?
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