Blended

If you’re only seen as half of this and half of that, how can you ever feel whole?

This book by Sharon M. Draper is about eleven year old Isabella who has been through this situation. Her father is black, and her mother is white, and now that her parents are divorced, Isabella feels like a push-me-pull-me toy. Isabella learns to define her identity, and find her voice through personal and social visits. She’s constantly changing between visiting her mom, and her dad that seems to add a lot of pressure on her.

Later on in the book, Isabella and her other two best friends Imani and Heather come to the girls changing after gym class, where Imani finds a noose(a loop at the end of a rope used to hang people) inside of her locker! Who could have put that there?

I love how the author could take such a complex topic of racism and package it down for younger kids, so that they could understand. In school Isabella has a mix of white and black friends, along with her english teacher who prepares lessons for his students to learn about racial inequalities.

The author in her writing used many metaphors and descriptions in this story which made for fun and realistic reading. 

“I pick up my juice box and sip fiercely, the box’s sides going concave.” 

How many times have we taken a big sip with a straw till the juice box went concave!

Unfortunately racism is an issue that people still deal with today and this book showed what Isabella had to go through. If you’re a person who enjoys reading books about problems that are still present in today’s society this book is definitely for you!