Tuesday, July 14, 2009

#BookReview: The Black Girl Next Door - Jennifer Baszile


The American dream has always been for our kids to have more and do better than their parents have done. In The Black Girl Next Door, Jennifer Baszile finds herself moving not once, but twice as her parents pursue the American Dream. Moving is an adjustment, but at the age of 7, she thinks she can handle it. That's until her parents come home to graffiti on the sidewalk telling them to leave the neighborhood and a classmate accuses her of being able to run faster because "black people have something special in their feet" and her teacher agrees.

While Jennifer and her sister have adapted to their predominantly white world, their blackness is questioned by their parents on family vacation and they are made to meet and learn the names of every black child on the cruise. In this completely relatable memoir you'll find the struggle of a lot of African American children of "upwardly mobile parents" of the 70s with their feet in both world, seeking to find the perfect balance.

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