I have seriously been craving a solid Young Adult read, and I had high hopes for this one. I skipped the August Book of the Month options and nabbed this “add-on” as a stand-alone instead, hoping it would satisfy my craving. I think I got half way there…
Book 38:
Color Me In
by Natasha Diaz
Genre:
Young Adult, Contemporary, Debut
Published:
August 2019
Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, Color Me In is the multi-racial story of Nevaeh Levitz in some of the most formative times of her life. Nevaeh is half black, half Jewish and white-presenting. Not only does she struggle to identify a culture that is true to who she is, she struggles to understand who she is in general. And then her parents split, taking their respective cultures and separating them once again, causing Nevaeh to discover, grapple with, and lean into the cultures that make her uniquely Nevaeh Levitz.
Favorite Quote(s):
“If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is that you only receive what you are open to, and you are only open to what you believe you deserve.”
– Natasha Diaz, Color Me In
Awards (based upon my brief research):
None noted.
Pages:
384
My Overall Rating:
3.5 – Quick and easy, this book was definitely Young Adult. However, in ways it was almost too comparable to The Hate U Give, which took away from the overall excitement I had about this book going into it. The main character faces clashing cultures. White-presenting, she’s privileged, but she’s technically black, a people group who are not often considered to be privileged. The culture clash is intriguing – it’s something I cannot relate to, and I really appreciate Diaz diving into this story to give some perspective.
However, I would have liked for the overall story to have a greater plot. There didn’t seem to be any one event that was the height of all the action. And then my biggest pet peeve, Nevaeh reads her mom’s journal, and apparently her mom wrote in her journal as if she were writing a novel. I don’t think people actually do that…
All that being said, I am always a fan of reading books to gain perspective on the situations of others unlike me, so I can’t say this was a waste of time in any way. I was just hoping for more from it.
