White Like Her. Gail Lukasik. 2017. Skyhorse Publishing. 316 pages. [Source: personal copy.] We all think we know who we are. We all believe what our parents tell us about our families. Sometimes what they don’t tell us is the real story. On its surface, White Like Her is one woman’s dogged journey* to learn about her family’s history. What sets it apart is that Gail Lukasik’s journey is predicated on sifting through the secrecy that shrouded much of her mother’s life, ultimately disrupting the narrative of Lukasik and her family’s whiteness.  You see, Alvera Frederic passed as white for most of her adult life, but spent her formative years in a black family. Born in New Orleans, she straddled the line of “blackness,” until she reinvented herself in Ohio, marrying a white man and starting a family, while leaving her own behind. Much of this book follows, step by step, Lukasik’s uncovering of her mother’s true racial identity, pieced together as a result of a census record and an appearance on PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow.  What I like most about this book is that it serves as a primer, of sorts, for those unfamiliar with key tools of the genealogy…

A Beautiful Ghetto. Devin Allen. 2017. Haymarket Books. 121 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of Edelweiss Above the Treeline.] I had chills while reading A Beautiful Ghetto. Part of it was seeing beautiful Black faces in environments that seem anything but that, based on social standards. Allen, however, captures everyday life in Baltimore with a brutal honesty that is truly compelling. There are pictures of children lounging on a rowhouse’s marble steps. Men in a barber shop. Dirt bike riders showing off tricks. Some images are less savory, though. Boarded up rowhouses. Vacant lots filled with debris. A streetside memorial. Allen also presents pain through images of the April 2015 uprisings in response the death of Freddie Gray, a young Black man who died from injuries sustained while in police custody. These are harder to look at — there’s an acute sense of pain, anger, and frustration conveyed that take me back to the days I wanted the uprising unfold from my living room only an hour away from Baltimore. The juxtaposition of destroyed property, police positioned in opposition against activists and protesters, and visible pain alongside hope shown through poignant signs, crowds of marchers, and impassioned speakers is powerful….

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. Issa Rae. 2015. Atria. 225 pages. [Source: Public library]. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I’ve been a stan of Issa Rae since her co-worker caught her rapping along aggressively at a stop sign on Youtube.  That fandom exploded when her show, Insecure, hit HBO in 2016.  I’ve always related quite a bit to her experiences on her web-series, and (not surprisingly) the trials and tribulations of adulthood chronicled on the small screen spoke to my own experiences in dating, working, and trying to look like I had my sh*t together while I fumbled through the process. I’m honestly a bit disappointed it took me so long to get my hands on her autobiography, but it was worth the wait.  It’s an easy read and felt like I was kicking back on the couch with my girl from way back, reminiscing about the good, bad, and ugly.  (Sidenote – Issa Rae is my friend in my head. She completes my sentences and we do that thing where you can give someone a look and they know exactly what you’re thinking).  I appreciated from the start her ability to inject wit (albeit often…

Orange is the New Black. Piper Kerman. 2010. 322 pages. Spiegel and Grau. [Source: personal copy.] I’m not a fan of memoirs, which trumps whether this was good or not, because it was a self inflicted torture. Her account was realistic, honest and enlightening but extremely boring at times. I’ve never had to use the dictionary so many times when reading a book and wonder if this is her everyday vocabulary or if she became best buddies with a thesaurus during her prison stay and just never mentioned it. Either way, I’m glad I’m done and maybe I’ll try the series.

Test Driven: High-Stakes Accountability in Elementary Schools. Linda Valli, Robert G. Croninger, Marilyn H. Chambliss, Anna O. Graeber, Daria Buese. 2008. 208 pages. Teachers College Press. [Source: personal copy.] I can only hope that more people than just educators and those in academia are exposed to the invaluable information the authors provide here. The insights into how the educational landscape is being warped by a focus on standardization and other national educational policies are some that I never considered, but am certain I need to be aware of.