For Black Girls Like Me - by Mariama J Lockington

For Black Girls Like Me is a heart-wrenching yet powerful coming-of-age story about an African American girl adopted into a white family, exploring complexities of family, race, sisterhood, and belonging.

Through intimate authenticity, the author delves into how fierce but "colorblind" familial love can result in erasure and sensitively depicts the pain of facing casual racism, as well as the disconcerting experience of being the child of a mentally ill parent.

This lyrical and personal story, inspired by the author's own life experiences, is told through distinctive, lyrical prose with poems interspersed throughout, capturing the joy and angst of transracial adoption in a strong, authentic voice.

The multimodal storytelling is visually accessible yet conceptually sophisticated, and the narration, in a reflective, comma-free style, has a touch of adult perception to it that helps expand the audience range of the story.

Readers will cheer for Makeda as she emerges with a stronger and more loving sense of herself.

This is an essential purchase for all collections.