百花开自然学校
2020-01-31 19:55:40
This deeply sensitive and powerful debut novel tells the story of a
thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally
abusive family to finally learn to love herself.
There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself. She knows the exact
number because she keeps a list. Like #95: Because her skin is so dark,
people call her charcoal and eggplant--even her own family. And #61:
Because her family is always being put out of their house, belongings
laid out on the sidewalk for the world to see. When your dad is a
gambling addict and loses the rent money every month, eviction is a
regular occurrence.
What's not so regular is that this time they all don't have a place to crash, so Genesis and her mom have to stay
with her grandma. It's not that Genesis doesn't like her grandma, but
she and Mom always fight--Grandma haranguing Mom to leave Dad, that she
should have gone back to school, that if she'd married a lighter skinned
man none of this would be happening, and on and on and on. But things
aren't all bad. Genesis actually likes her new school; she's made a
couple friends, her choir teacher says she has real talent, and she even
encourages Genesis to join the talent show.
But how can Genesis believe anything her teacher says when her dad tells her the exact
opposite? How can she stand up in front of all those people with her
dark, dark skin knowing even her own family thinks lesser of her because
of it? Why, why, why won't the lemon or yogurt or fancy creams lighten
her skin like they're supposed to? And when Genesis reaches #100 on the
list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she
find the strength to begin again?
