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racheldthurlow's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
ktrusty416's review
5.0
Oh my heart, "For Black Girls Like Me" is a blues song, a fight song, a love song. Immediate re-read happening... now.
lizbtc's review
4.0
This is a heartbreaker.
Keda is eleven. She is moving cross country with her family, starting in a new place, New Mexico, because of her father's job. Keda is African American, the only one in her family, adopted as an infant.
Keda's mother was a musician; she still is, except her father's job took priority in the family and her mother plays less and less.
This is a story of a girl moving to a new place, and having to start again with new friends. A school that calls itself diverse, but the diversity does not include her.
Keda loves her parents; she loves her older sister, the miracle baby born to them.
For Black Girls Like Me explores transracial adoption, and the harms that even well-meaning, loving parents can inflict. Some of them I saw and winced; some of them I didn't realize until Keda pointed it out; and some I saw and Keda didn't make a big deal about because it is her life and she cannot make a big deal out of everything.
It is also Keda moving to a new place and the difficulty of making new friends and finding a place and a voice.
It is also about a mother who is sick and people don't know it. As an adult reader, I quickly picked up on the fact that her mother was exhibiting the highs and lows, the manic actions, of someone with bipolar disorder. Keda, her sister, and her father don't see it; and I imagine that most readers won't. They will discover it as Keda does. And this captures beautifully the heartbreak of being the child when a family member is sick, and feeling responsible, and feeling resentful.
All in all, a wonderful book about many things, and it works beautifully, and I am hopeful for Keda and think that readers will love her as much as I do.
Keda is eleven. She is moving cross country with her family, starting in a new place, New Mexico, because of her father's job. Keda is African American, the only one in her family, adopted as an infant.
Keda's mother was a musician; she still is, except her father's job took priority in the family and her mother plays less and less.
This is a story of a girl moving to a new place, and having to start again with new friends. A school that calls itself diverse, but the diversity does not include her.
Keda loves her parents; she loves her older sister, the miracle baby born to them.
For Black Girls Like Me explores transracial adoption, and the harms that even well-meaning, loving parents can inflict. Some of them I saw and winced; some of them I didn't realize until Keda pointed it out; and some I saw and Keda didn't make a big deal about because it is her life and she cannot make a big deal out of everything.
It is also Keda moving to a new place and the difficulty of making new friends and finding a place and a voice.
It is also about a mother who is sick and people don't know it. As an adult reader, I quickly picked up on the fact that her mother was exhibiting the highs and lows, the manic actions, of someone with bipolar disorder. Keda, her sister, and her father don't see it; and I imagine that most readers won't. They will discover it as Keda does. And this captures beautifully the heartbreak of being the child when a family member is sick, and feeling responsible, and feeling resentful.
All in all, a wonderful book about many things, and it works beautifully, and I am hopeful for Keda and think that readers will love her as much as I do.
thebooksupplier's review
5.0
Sticky Note Review @ the (book) supplier https://thebooksupplier.com/2019/09/12/for-black-girls-like-me-sticky-note-reviews/
lauramct's review
5.0
Oh boy did I love this book!!!
Reason 1: I have students that will see so many mirrors of their own lives in Keda’s life in their own (black, smart, adopted, parents that don’t look like her, mental illness in the family, love of music/singing, being the new kid, being called an offensive name...)
Reason 2: I loved the mix of chapters written in prose with chapters written in verse or song lyrics. Although I do enjoy novels written entirely in verse, I feel like they often tend to fall flat when you consider the poems individually—more often than not it feels to me like authors of novels in verse took the easy way out and just wrote short chapters spaced out over more pages rather than poetry. Because Lockington scattered Keda’s poems and songs lyrics throughout the book, I felt like she really focused on making each one shine with the word choice and figurative language.
Reason 3: Keda’s relationships rang true for me—especially her relationships with her best friend and her sister. Both were complicated and layered in exactly the ways you’d expect for an eleven year old girl.
Needless to say, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this for my students to read.
Reason 1: I have students that will see so many mirrors of their own lives in Keda’s life in their own (black, smart, adopted, parents that don’t look like her, mental illness in the family, love of music/singing, being the new kid, being called an offensive name...)
Reason 2: I loved the mix of chapters written in prose with chapters written in verse or song lyrics. Although I do enjoy novels written entirely in verse, I feel like they often tend to fall flat when you consider the poems individually—more often than not it feels to me like authors of novels in verse took the easy way out and just wrote short chapters spaced out over more pages rather than poetry. Because Lockington scattered Keda’s poems and songs lyrics throughout the book, I felt like she really focused on making each one shine with the word choice and figurative language.
Reason 3: Keda’s relationships rang true for me—especially her relationships with her best friend and her sister. Both were complicated and layered in exactly the ways you’d expect for an eleven year old girl.
Needless to say, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this for my students to read.
jennybeastie's review
4.0
Keda is struggling with her identity as a Black adoptee of a white family, in a new place, while her mother's mental health is spiraling out of control. There's a lot going on, but I found it hard to put down -- Keda is such a bright, emerging spark of a girl: shy, but willing to stick up for herself. Often feeling like an outsider, but finding comfort in the pieces of Black culture that are available to her. It's a powerful book. I had an ebook version and I can't tell if the whole thing is meant to be in verse, but in any case, the verse sections weave well into the whole.
enfantterrible94's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
teonnareads_'s review
4.0
I want to chant Makeda's name as loud as I can. I wish I could hug her and sing her a song so she knows she is beautiful and brilliant. I want to sing her praises of love and laughter. But since I cannot, I will sing praises of this book.
I appreciated this book because of Makeda's strength, her honesty, sensitivity. Makeda is a 11 year old whose family is uprooted from Baltimore to New Mexico. To add to this pressure and stress, Makeda is an adopted daughter in a white family. While in New Mexico she feels lonely and is constantly presented with how different she is from her family. The students at her new school are unfriendly and attempt to ridicule and denigrate her. She confesses to a teacher that a student called her a nigger, yet her claims are not taken seriously. As a result, her mother withdraws her and her sister from school and begin homeschooling. Yet, this makes Keda feel even more ostracized as she internalizes this as she is at fault. Furthermore, her mother begins to act in depressive and manic moods, her older sister becomes distant, and she feels that her voice is not heard, and her father is away touring for work. To cope, her best friend creates an online journal they use to update each other on their life. However, this offers little reprieve as Lena stops answering her calls or writing back.
All of this stress and struggles culminates when her mother attempts suicide. These leaves her entire family stunned and in pieces. After her mother spends a month in a mental institution, Keda and her family learns her mother suffers from bi-polar disorder. The book ends with her family attempting to reconcile and learn a new routine.
With that being said, I appreciate the authenticity of this story but I feel that Keda's family failed her. Keda was tasked with looking after her mother during the summer of her mother's manic and depressive moods. She lacked an outlet for her to be acknowledged and affirmed as a young, Black girl in a white family. I wish her family did a better job of ensuring she felt comfortable confiding in them. Although her mother was enraged to find out about Keda being called a nigger, she still did not create a space in which Keda expressed her full emotions and thoughts from being called this. I was also annoyed with her mother making comments of being color blind as this further silenced and diminished Keda's emotions, being, and identity. I am upset, sympathetic to, and amazed at how Keda is able to construct her girlhood with little assistance.
I appreciated this book because of Makeda's strength, her honesty, sensitivity. Makeda is a 11 year old whose family is uprooted from Baltimore to New Mexico. To add to this pressure and stress, Makeda is an adopted daughter in a white family. While in New Mexico she feels lonely and is constantly presented with how different she is from her family. The students at her new school are unfriendly and attempt to ridicule and denigrate her. She confesses to a teacher that a student called her a nigger, yet her claims are not taken seriously. As a result, her mother withdraws her and her sister from school and begin homeschooling. Yet, this makes Keda feel even more ostracized as she internalizes this as she is at fault. Furthermore, her mother begins to act in depressive and manic moods, her older sister becomes distant, and she feels that her voice is not heard, and her father is away touring for work. To cope, her best friend creates an online journal they use to update each other on their life. However, this offers little reprieve as Lena stops answering her calls or writing back.
All of this stress and struggles culminates when her mother attempts suicide. These leaves her entire family stunned and in pieces. After her mother spends a month in a mental institution, Keda and her family learns her mother suffers from bi-polar disorder. The book ends with her family attempting to reconcile and learn a new routine.
With that being said, I appreciate the authenticity of this story but I feel that Keda's family failed her. Keda was tasked with looking after her mother during the summer of her mother's manic and depressive moods. She lacked an outlet for her to be acknowledged and affirmed as a young, Black girl in a white family. I wish her family did a better job of ensuring she felt comfortable confiding in them. Although her mother was enraged to find out about Keda being called a nigger, she still did not create a space in which Keda expressed her full emotions and thoughts from being called this. I was also annoyed with her mother making comments of being color blind as this further silenced and diminished Keda's emotions, being, and identity. I am upset, sympathetic to, and amazed at how Keda is able to construct her girlhood with little assistance.
jillcd's review
5.0
Incredible. I read it in one sitting and this is not a short book. There are so many layers here that should be peeled back, examined, and discussed. The topics are tough but so well written and intertwined throughout the story that it works surprisingly well without being overwhelming. No spoilers, you have to read it to understand what I am talking about. I would love to run this as a book club book with older students. Grades 6 and up.