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This is my favorite book I've read so far in my Introduction to College Literature class because it was the only one whose characters have really spoken to me in a way that wasn't preachy or highly metaphorical.

Birdie, the main character, is a young mixed race girl growing up in Boston in the late seventies with her white mother, black father, and sister Cole, who is darker than her. Birdie can pass as white, and she feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere or in any race. Her mother, a radical activist who is involved in some sort of dangerous activity we are never fully informed about, ends up having to leave, and she takes Birdie with her. Birdie's father, a Black Power activist and scholar, takes Cole and leaves to Brazil. The sisters are seperated, and Birdie is taken from her only friend and the only role model she has. She discovers the hard way that she does not look like Cole, and Cole is not a mirror for her like other sisters. Nobody looks like Birdie and she is very alone.

She goes through experiences with poverty, homelessness, her mother's deep paranoia, and her own sexuality as she tries to discover her place in the world. This book gets you really close to Birdie and her narration is so believable and at times really heartbreaking. I love the way she reacts to people, to their racism and ignorance and misguided kindness, and she is one of my favorite protagonists that I have read in awhile.

This is an important book. I've never read a fiction book on the topic of what it is like to be a mixed race child and not having a role model who looks like you, and I thought it was such a vast and interesting story. I definitely recommend it to everyone looking for a book on a topic they may not have read much about.