Color Me In by Natasha Diaz

Hey Booklovers!


I'm back with another review post. I did say I was going to try and bring more of my reviews here so when I recommend these books you can easily find my thoughts on them.

Last year this book caught my eye when I heard Natasha Diaz talk about how this book would explore white passing biracial's privilege. The writing in this story was simply poetic. And books don't usually make me cry and this one had tears flowing as I sat in bed one night reading it. I didn't want to put it down and ended up reading it in two days.

This was such a powerful story that doesn't usually get told. Yes, we know biracial people often struggle with their identity. People usually want them to choose one race over the other. We've all heard of the tragic mulatto narrative. But this story examines both side's of a biracial girl's identity without painting her as a victim.

Nevaeh grew up in a rich white neighborhood feeling like an outsider beyond her one other biracial friend. She's bullied by the mean popular girl at school who makes racial comments towards her that she lets slide to not stir up trouble. Anyone Black or half Black who went to a majority white school knows the type of comments and knows how much they sting. And how it feels to feel so alone because you don't look like everyone else. Neveah is white passing but doesn't feel white enough to identify with either side of her heritage. 

Nevaeh's life as she knows it drastically changes. Because her parents are in the middle of a nasty divorce and her cheating father brings his mistress around. And her father's new girlfriend is one of those passive aggressive white women who sees herself as better than the little biracial girl before her. And now her father who has never been religious feels the need to insert his Jewishness because he feels his daughter has too much Black influence in her life after moving with her mother to Harlem. So he makes her attending Hebrew school and is forcing her to have a belated Bat Mitzvah.

Having grown up in her not white but white enough bubble she struggles to relate to her Black family and at first. She doesn't understand at first the microaggressions they feel on a daily basis. Her cousin has to check her over her light skinned privilege a few times.

Nevaeh's mother has struggles with her mental health and the separation is taking a toll on her. She stays in her room all day and has no motivation to leave the house. She barely wants to talk to her daughter who is trying to balance this new situation. Nevaeh wants to be mad at her but when she finds her mother's old diary and reads about some of her experiences she sees her mother and father in a new light.

This story is a journey about a teen girl discovering herself and how she fits in to both of her cultures. We go along for the journey as Nevaeh discovers Jamaican, Liberian, and Jewish traditions. And Natasha Diaz includes beautiful poetry and diary entries to help shape this story and give us much needed background information in a way that doesn't feel forced.