About this item
Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods moving, uplifting story of a girl finally meeting the African American side of her family explores racism and how it feels to be biracial, and celebrates families of all kinds.Violet is biracial, but she lives with her white mother and sister, attends a mostly white school in a white town, and sometimes feels like a brown leaf on a pile of snow. Now that shes eleven, she feels its time to learn about her African American heritage, so she seeks out her paternal grandmother. When Violet is invited to spend two weeks with her new Bibi (Swahili for "grandmother") and learns about her lost heritage, her confidence in herself grows and she discovers shes not a shrinking Violet after all. From a Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author, this is a powerful story about a young girl finding her place in the world.
About the Author
Brenda Woods was born in Cincinnati, Ohio but moved to Los Angeles when she was six years old. She grew up in a large Catholic family, the second eldest of seven. "It was a noisy, busy, boisterous household and I always sought quiet spaces where I could read and imagine. The public library wasn't too far from our house and it was a haven." She became a shutterbug at the age of eleven when she received her first camera, has studied painting and ceramics and believes strongly in the healing power of music. Words were always of great interest to her, the way they could be put together in melodic, lyrical ways. When she was twelve years old she decided to memorize the entire dictionary but her attempts were, much to her dismay, unsuccessful. Brenda Woods graduated from Ascension School in South Los Angeles, St. Mary's Academy in Inglewood, California, and California State University, Northridge. Brenda is the mother of two adult sons."The road to becoming a writer was winding and fortuitous but a definite fit for someone who rather enjoys spending time alone with her thoughts, a thesaurus, and a laptop. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to express myself with words and that my offerings have been well received. Young people are the best and it has been a great privilege to share my stories with them." Brenda Woods is the recipient of numerous awards, including The Coretta Scott King Honor, PEN Center USA Finalist, Focal Award, ALA TOP Ten Books for Reluctant Readers, and the International Reading Association Book Award. The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA, a Kirkus Review Best Book and CCBC Choice, is her eighth published novel.
