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Summary
Summary
The close relationship of a pair of biracial twins is tested when their grandmother enters them in a pateant for African American girls in this story from Sundee T. Frazier.
Author Notes
Sundee T. Frazier is the author of Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It, for which she received the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. As a teen, she was crowned Miss Palouse Empire and was first runner-up in the Washington State Junior Miss Program ( not pageant). Learn more about her and her books at www.sundeefrazier.com.
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
Biracial fraternal twins Minni and Keira's perceptions of race change when their African American grandmother enters them in a black preteen beauty pageant in North Carolina. Suddenly Minni's fair skin and red hair are overshadowed by her sister's "cinnamon-brown" complexion and dark curly hair. Well-developed characters drive this story filled with pathos and Southern-tinged humor. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The idea of being a twin has built-in appeal a sibling who has almost identical experiences of the world can be an instant BFF. That ideal informs the lives of sisters Minni and Keira, but the differences between the biracial siblings may be vaster than they'd like to think, because Minni's coloring is white like their father's, while Keira's is black like their mother's. During the summer when the girls turn 11, awareness of how they're perceived is driven home when a storekeeper in their home state of Washington has a widely disparate reaction to the girls' browsing through fancy dresses. Later, when the girls visit their prickly maternal grandmother in North Carolina and compete in a beauty contest for African Americans, Minni feels she is the focus of skeptical attention. Not only does Frazier raise questions worth pondering but her ability to round out each character, looking past easy explanations for attitude, is impressive. She also leavens the whole with easy humor and builds suspense over the pageant itself. Will the talented and outgoing Keira win the prize? Will Minni be able to overcome her shyness and shine? A novel with a great deal of heart indeed, from the winner of the John Steptoe New Talent Award for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It (2007).--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Twins Keira and Minni, 11, are used to the funny looks their "chessboard family" receives: Keira takes after their black mother and Minni resembles their white father. In spite of differences in appearance and personality, the girls share a bond that they are convinced is unbreakable. When their maternal grandmother invites them to fly from their coastal Washington town to North Carolina and enroll in the Miss Black Pearl of America Program, their mother is hesitant, but finally agrees. Keira is ecstatic to enter, but introverted Minni is not happy. Her reservations seem well founded when they arrive: Grandmother Johnson is as persnickety as ever, and the program's president questions whether Minni qualifies to participate in an event for black girls. Minni learns what it feels like to be the odd person out in terms of appearance, and Keira is resentful that, up until now, Minni really hasn't understood what her sister was going through in their white Seattle suburb. The girls mature and learn a few things about their grandmother's struggle to be seen as an equal by the white community. As in Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It (Delacorte, 2007), Frazier addresses issues faced by mixed-race children with a grace and humor that keep her from being pedantic. The story is enjoyable in its own right, but will also encourage readers to rethink racial boundaries and what it means to be black or white in America.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Funny and deeply affecting, this novel by the Steptoe Award winner for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It (2007) revisits the still largely unexplored world of multiracial heritage. Twin daughters of a black mom and white dad, Minerva and Keira King, 11, fly from Washington State to North Carolina to stay with oppressive Grandmother Johnson and compete in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen pageant. The narrator, shy Minni, who appears white, is reluctant; outgoing Keira, who appears black, is thrilled. Back home, Minni has unknowingly benefited from white privilege, while Keira's appearance has subjected her to bias. In North Carolina, Keira fits in, and Minni stands out. Although she's favored by their grandmother, Minni's white appearance leads others to question her right to identify as black. As their experience of race threatens to divide the sisters, Minni struggles to heal the rift. Frazier highlights the contradictions, absurdities, humor and pain that accompany life as a mixed-race tween. Never didactic, this is the richest portrait of multiracial identity and family since Virginia Hamilton's 1976 novel Arilla Sun Down. An outstanding achievement. (Fiction. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Mama was always pointing out that of the millions of genes that made them all human, only seven or eight told their skin what color to be. A minuscule number, she said. A very small difference. So that was what Minni chose to believe, even though somewhere deep inside her brain, in a little drawer she rarely let herself open, lived the concern that the difference she'd been assured didn't matter actually mattered a lot. She squeezed her sister's hand and made an early birthday wish: May nothing ever, ever come between Keira and me. Nothing--big or small. Excerpted from The Other Half of My Heart by Sundee Tucker Frazier All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
