The Only Black Girls in Town

Starred review from December 1, 2019
A new neighbor brings change and mystery to rising seventh grader Alberta Freeman-Price. Despite the fact that Alberta and her dads are some of the small number of black people in Ewing Beach, California, Alberta leads a pretty chill life, surfing and eating ice cream with her best friend, Laramie. Then the bed-and-breakfast across the street is taken over by new neighbors from New York, a black single mom and her goth daughter, Edie. The fact that Edie is black fuses the bond between the two. When Edie discovers mysterious journals in the attic of the B&B, she shares them with Alberta. The author of the journals was Constance, a young woman who apparently worked as a nanny in the building during the 1950s. The girls' obsession with the journals combines with their emerging friendship to cause Alberta to feel torn between Laramie, who is white, and Edie. While Alberta and Edie juggle the awkward, sometimes-painful dynamics of middle school friendships, bullies, and racism, their research into the journals leads the girls to a discovery of family and racial dynamics that transcends time. Colbert's middle-grade debut, centering black girls who represent a range of experiences, deserves a standing ovation. Alberta's narration is perceptive and accessible as she navigates race in America in the past and present. A heartfelt tale with classy, indelible characters. (Fiction. 10-12)

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Starred review from January 20, 2020
Twelve-year-old surfing fanatic Alberta has lived in Ewing Beach, Calif., with her fathers for much of her life. Her family is one of the only black families in town, until the Whitmans buy the old bed and breakfast across the street. Goth Edie, the same age as Alberta, is nothing like her. She’s a proud Brooklyn native; she wears all black, down to the black lipstick she’s never without; and she doesn’t understand why everyone in Ewing loves the beach. And while Edie’s parents are divorcing, Alberta’s dads remain deeply in love. Despite their differences, the two become fast friends just as Alberta’s lifelong best friend, who is white, begins drifting toward the popular girl who has bullied Alberta with racist taunts for years. When Alberta and Edie find a set of mysterious journals in Edie’s new house, they also uncover an enduring secret. Imperfect, vulnerable characters take center stage in Colbert’s middle grade debut about growing up on the margins in the past and present. Colbert employs a compulsively readable style to convey the sometimes difficult experience of young friendship, and the power and peril of claiming one’s identity out loud. Ages 8–12. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM Partners.

March 20, 2020

Gr 3-7-Alberta is a 13-year-old African American girl who loves surfing, vegetarian food, and her two dads. She does not love being the only African American girl in town, or the fact that her best friend Laramie is befriending her frenemy, Natalie. Initially, Alberta is thrilled to learn another Black family has moved in across the street-but when she meets new neighbor Edie, they seem to have more differences than commonalities. Brooklyn-born Edie likes coffee, black lipstick, and Edgar Allan Poe, whereas Alberta prefers board shorts and hanging out at the beach. But what starts as a rocky connection solidifies into friendship as the two girls bond over shared identities and solve a mystery that they uncover in the journals in Edie's attic. Alberta's friendship with Laramie seems to falter as she gets closer to Edie, but the girls become more flexible in their evolving friendship and grow. Eventually, Alberta learns how to balance sustaining old relationships with building new ones, and realizes she can stand up for herself. VERDICT A nuanced novel that skillfully depicts the ways friendships can be shaped by common experience and racial proximity. Purchase Colbert's heartfelt middle grade debut for all public and school libraries.-Desiree Thomas, Worthington Library, OH

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Starred review from March 15, 2020
Grades 3-6 *Starred Review* A remarkable middle-grade debut from YA powerhouse Colbert (Little & Lion, 2017), The Only Black Girls in Town is a window into the heart and mind of Alberta, the sole African American girl in her small beach town's seventh grade until another Black family moves in across the street. Although she and her new neighbor could not be any more superficially different?Alberta is a California surfer and Edie is a goth girl from Brooklyn?they bond over their racial otherness in a realistic way. Being two of the few Black students in their school (a true-to-life representation of the microaggressions they experience is highlighted by a teacher calling Edie by Alberta's name, although they look nothing alike) brings the girls closer together, while navigating their middle-school dramas and changing family dynamics seems to drive them apart. Fortunately, a desire to uncover the identity of the author of a set of journals they find in Edie's home helps to keep their friendship from completely fracturing, and conflicts are resolved in a reasonable yet satisfying way. Several events central to Black history (the murder of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott, for example) are introduced without the story becoming didactic, adding depth to a sweet story featuring children of color trying to find their place in a society that tells them they do not fit. Strongly recommended for children's collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)