Review of The Color(s) of Angels
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Carol McCoy Phelps
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Review of The Color(s) of Angels
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Color(s) of Angels" by RoZita Berry.]
“Bree says . . . it’s bad enough when you’re white. When you’re mixed race . . . white kids don’t like you and black kids don’t either.”
Sharona Jackson and her family just moved from Memphis to a town in Arkansas. Sharona, almost fourteen, will enter eighth grade in the fall, and she feels insecure about making new friends. Her sister, Bree, will be in high school. RoZita Berry’s The Color(s) of Angels tackles a slew of sensitive social issues, including racism and bullying.
Sharona is very dark and Bree is light, and Sharona feels that Bree is ashamed to be her sister. Bree accuses Sharona of talking “ghetto.” Sharona responds, “Our daddy black.” Bree reminds Sharona that they have never lived in a ghetto. Besides that, their daddy is a college professor. Sharona knows that her affected manner of speaking annoys her sister, and she is happy to articulate her pride in doing so.
Sharona and Bree eagerly spy on the new neighbors moving in next door one summer day, and they optimistically count the number of children filing out of the white Lexus. Darrell, Angel, Casey, and their parents look like a happy family. They will become close friends with the Jacksons.
As summer progresses the girls join a baseball team, Bree secretly crushes on Darrell, and Sharona finds a new best friend in Angel. They don’t know that they will soon face racists in their neighborhood and in their school. Angel, who is albino, will be bullied and threatened. A teenage girl will be murdered. How will they deal with bullies? Was Darrell really a murderer after all? How did they win their grandmother’s love? Read this sensitive, sometimes funny, and timely novel to find the answers.
Sharona is the narrator, and she is real and relatable. It feels like she is talking to you in her room, telling you her secrets and sharing a soft drink. I like the plot arcs that show character development. Through Sharona’s eyes we see her grandmother’s disdain for the mixed marriage dissolve and soften into loving acceptance of the entire family. We see Sharona growing into a young lady through the stages of puberty and her feelings about the boy who likes her. I cannot praise this book highly enough. Sharona’s personality grasped my heart and my attention on the first page, and I didn’t want the story to end. Berry masterfully drew me into this story as if I were there, seeing, hearing, and feeling all the emotions and interactions that Sharona experienced.
There is nothing about this book to dislike. I rate The Color(s) of Angels 5 out of 5 stars because the book is so beautifully written and exceptionally well-edited. The book deals with racist encounters and sparse profanity in dialogue between characters. For these reasons, I recommend the book for readers who are in middle school and older.
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The Color(s) of Angels
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
“Bree says . . . it’s bad enough when you’re white. When you’re mixed race . . . white kids don’t like you and black kids don’t either.”
Sharona Jackson and her family just moved from Memphis to a town in Arkansas. Sharona, almost fourteen, will enter eighth grade in the fall, and she feels insecure about making new friends. Her sister, Bree, will be in high school. RoZita Berry’s The Color(s) of Angels tackles a slew of sensitive social issues, including racism and bullying.
Sharona is very dark and Bree is light, and Sharona feels that Bree is ashamed to be her sister. Bree accuses Sharona of talking “ghetto.” Sharona responds, “Our daddy black.” Bree reminds Sharona that they have never lived in a ghetto. Besides that, their daddy is a college professor. Sharona knows that her affected manner of speaking annoys her sister, and she is happy to articulate her pride in doing so.
Sharona and Bree eagerly spy on the new neighbors moving in next door one summer day, and they optimistically count the number of children filing out of the white Lexus. Darrell, Angel, Casey, and their parents look like a happy family. They will become close friends with the Jacksons.
As summer progresses the girls join a baseball team, Bree secretly crushes on Darrell, and Sharona finds a new best friend in Angel. They don’t know that they will soon face racists in their neighborhood and in their school. Angel, who is albino, will be bullied and threatened. A teenage girl will be murdered. How will they deal with bullies? Was Darrell really a murderer after all? How did they win their grandmother’s love? Read this sensitive, sometimes funny, and timely novel to find the answers.
Sharona is the narrator, and she is real and relatable. It feels like she is talking to you in her room, telling you her secrets and sharing a soft drink. I like the plot arcs that show character development. Through Sharona’s eyes we see her grandmother’s disdain for the mixed marriage dissolve and soften into loving acceptance of the entire family. We see Sharona growing into a young lady through the stages of puberty and her feelings about the boy who likes her. I cannot praise this book highly enough. Sharona’s personality grasped my heart and my attention on the first page, and I didn’t want the story to end. Berry masterfully drew me into this story as if I were there, seeing, hearing, and feeling all the emotions and interactions that Sharona experienced.
There is nothing about this book to dislike. I rate The Color(s) of Angels 5 out of 5 stars because the book is so beautifully written and exceptionally well-edited. The book deals with racist encounters and sparse profanity in dialogue between characters. For these reasons, I recommend the book for readers who are in middle school and older.
******
The Color(s) of Angels
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
J. Carol McCoy-Phelps
