A poignant coming-of-age story about a Black woman’s struggle to be her authentic self.
A young Black girl undertakes a journey of self-discovery into adolescence and adulthood in Johnson’s novel.
Spanning nearly 40 years, the narrative begins with Book 1, “I Want to Be Farrah Fawcett,” when Marisa Logan is a 9-year-old Black girl in 1978, living a comfortable middle-class life in a small, predominantly white Michigan town. Her close friends, classmates, and teachers are white, and so are Marisa’s pop-culture references (TV shows Dallasand The Brady Bunch; her collection of Archiecomics). Popular, involved socially, and excelling in school, she brushes off the experiences her parents and grandmother relate and resents reminders that she is “different.” (A supposed good friend says Farah Fawcett can’t be Marisa’s chosen TV star wannabe—she has to be “that girl from ‘Good Times’…the only pretty black girl on TV.”). The section ends with Marisa’s budding interest in her roots, her high school graduation, and a failed test of character by handsome, blond Barry, her first love. Book 2, “Fight the Power,” is a vivid narrative of Marisa’s college years—her struggle to fit in with the school’s few Black students, meeting future husband Kyle, and finding her voice as a Black woman in fervid activism. With gut-wrenching eloquence, the author depicts Marisa’s slow awakening to subtle and overt racial injustice when a white police officer stops Kyle for a bogus speeding offense. Marisa is dismayed that her strong fiancé, trembling with anger, refuses to argue as the officer draws out his humiliation. Book 3, “Faith the size of a mustard seed,” concerns the bitter betrayal of the not-guilty verdict in the police beating of Rodney King and the further testing of Marisa’s faith and “view of white people” in the aftermath of “the Trayvon Martin murder, the Eric Garner murder, and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri,” giving heightened resonance to Marisa’s moving, full-circle moment at her father’s testimonial as she comes to terms with who she used to be.
A poignant coming-of-age story about a Black woman’s struggle to be her authentic self.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2024
ISBN: 9798230908678
Page Count: 490
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PLB 0-688-13166-2 King Midas And The Golden Touch ($16.00; PLB $15.63; Apr.; 32 pp.; 0-688-13165-4; PLB 0-688-13166-2): The familiar tale of King Midas gets the golden touch in the hands of Craft and Craft (Cupid and Psyche, 1996). The author takes her inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling, capturing the essence of the tale with the use of pithy dialogue and colorful description. Enchanting in their own right, the illustrations summon the Middle Ages as a setting, and incorporate colors so lavish that when they are lost to the uniform gold spurred by King Midas’s touch, the point of the story is further burnished. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13165-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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