A review by hollysreadingcorner
Ellie Pillai is Brown by Christine Pillainayagam

4.0

I’d say this was a 3.75, very close to 4 stars. It was such a fun, light-hearted read. I fell in love with Ellie the moment I started the book, she’s such a lovable character. The only thing I will say I struggled with was the text speak in this book. I know it’s a YA book but I feel like some of the slang used was a bit unrealistic and a bit of a stretch. I loved diving into all of Ellie’s relationships and how they all impact her life individually. I think reading this book definitely opened my eyes to some of the barriers that POC have, and cultural differences/barriers that are faced, which people may not even think about. I know when I was growing up there weren’t many YA books that represented POC and different religious backgrounds, so I think the fact that YA fiction is more diverse these days is amazing, and so beneficial to so many children/teens/young adults.