4.0
The Only Black Girls in Town
By Brandy ColbertPublisher Description
From award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert comes a debut middle-grade novel about the only two Black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past.
Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only Black girl in town for years. Alberta's best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can't understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black—and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.
Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.
When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie's attic, they team up to figure out exactly who's behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.
Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only Black girl in town for years. Alberta's best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can't understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black—and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.
Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.
When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie's attic, they team up to figure out exactly who's behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities135 Reviews
4.0
annithebookaholic
Created 17 days agoShare
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Sara Hursey
Created 3 months agoShare
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“This was SO cute and I loved how everything came together in the end”
Shemeka
Created 4 months agoShare
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“4.5 stars. A YA book packed with adventure, Black history, and a focus on the friendship between two Black girls who are totally different, but need each other.”
Thee Fountain Pen Diva
Created 7 months agoShare
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“This is one of my all-time favorite books that I wish had been around when I was a pre-teen Blerd. I saw myself in both surfer girl Alberta and goth girl Edie. There's queer Black rep with Alberta's two dads, the warm relationship with Alberta's birth mother and all the ups and downs of growing up. This book is like an old friend - especially one that understands the daily microaggressions Black kids (and adults) deal with. I've always thought Ewing Beach was either Morro Bay or Cambria and I'm sticking to that lol. I need more Black surfer and goth girl books in my life 🤘🏿.”
CharBearReads
Created 9 months agoShare
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“This book is pretty so good (35%). Since there are only two black girls at the middle school, the comments are a bit much. The first question is "are you cousins" and the second comment is calling one girl the other girls name, like we all look the same. SMH!!! Now that I am finished with this read I can see the fullness and richness of the coming of age story that was being portrayed. In this book we were able to explore levels of friendship, self-awareness (identity), and belonging. It was also shown how the only two black gins in town bond over their shared experiences. I was so glad to see that Brandy (the author) captured the difficulties of friendships and the daily/complicated challenges of tackling the sad and inevitable racial stereotypes that their white counterparts were painfully unaware that they were subjecting both Edie and Alberta to on an almost daily basis. Overall a great YA read. 10/10 I would recommend for my nieces and nephews.”
About Brandy Colbert
Brandy Colbert is the critically acclaimed author of the novels The Voting Booth, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, Pointe, Finding Yvonne, and Stonewall Award winner Little & Lion. Born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, she now lives and writes in Los Angeles.
Other books by Brandy Colbert
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