![]() ![]() ![]() Nevaeh’s grandmother is portrayed as overbearing, controlling, and unloving, so if this is a class’s first introduction or discussion of Jewish people, it might leave a negative impression, especially given that the Jewish father is a philanderer and not a very sympathetic character either. TEACHING TIPS: While the primary audience for this book is adolescents, I think anyone of any age with a bi-racial identity could relate to the themes. That is where the entire book came together for me at a deeper level. One of my favorite parts of the book was the letter from the author at the end where she talks about what this book means to her and why she wrote it. I wish this book had been available for me forty years ago. Nevaeh is looking to find herself in places that don’t have a blueprint for her existence. The book does a wonderful job of grappling with the challenges and gifts of a dual identity (and in some instances dueling identities). It also exposes the implications of how the class divide operates to create different realities in education and access to material goods. The book exposes how skin color plays out not only in Nevaeh’s family, but when she’s out in her community trying to live life. This is particularly the case when dealing with the reality of what it means to have black skin in a country founded on racism and white supremacy. ![]() What I was reminded by reading this book is that despite the many levels on which I could relate to the themes, every journey is unique. I was very excited to read this book because I identified with many of the themes: parents getting divorced, Jewish heritage, multicultural family, and trying to find myself in the two distinct cultures that make up my background. Daughter of a Jewish father and a Black mother, Nevaeh is caught between two worlds when her parents get divorced. MY TWO CENTS: In Color Me In, Nevaeh Levitz shares her adolescent journey as a bi-racial girl trying to find herself in the races and cultures that make up her ancestry. Will she continue to let circumstances dictate her path? Or will she decide once for all who and where she is meant to be? Only when Nevaeh stumbles upon a secret from her mom’s past, finds herself falling in love, and sees firsthand the prejudice her family faces that she begins to realize she has her own voice. But rather than take a stand, Nevaeh does what she’s always done when life gets complicated: she stays silent. In the meantime, Nevaeh’s dad decides that she should have a belated bat mitzvah instead of a sweet sixteen, which guarantees social humiliation at her posh private school. Nevaeh wants to get to know her extended family, but because she inadvertently passes as white, her cousin thinks she’s too privileged, pampered, and selfish to relate to the injustices African Americans face on a daily basis. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom’s family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time. DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK: Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. ![]()
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