The Only Black Girls in Town

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Synopsis

Alberta Freeman-Price is the only Black girl in her seventh-grade class and one of only a handful of Black people who live in her small seaside community of Ewing Beach, California. She and her best friend, Laramie, are close, but there are things Alberta experiences that even her best friend can't fully understand. That's why, Alberta is excited when a Black family buys the bed and breakfast across the street and she discovers that they have a twelve-year-old daughter, too. Edie Whitman transplanted from Brooklyn with her mom who wanted a change of pace after a divorce. Edie is happy to make friends with Alberta, but she's having trouble adjusting to life without her dad and older brother who stayed behind in New York. When the two girls find a box of old journals from the 1950s and 60s in Edie's attic room, they feel an instant kinship with Constance, the mysterious author. Together they set out on a quest to find out who she is and why the diaries were left behind, and in doing so, unearth a story of painful secrets that make them ponder what life must have been like for Constance and trying to understand the difficult choices that she made. 

Review

The Only Black Girls in Town is a stand-alone middle-grade novel from Brandy Colbert who has previously published books in the YA and adult genres, but this is her debut book for a younger audience. Twelve-year-old Alberta lives in the small, California, seaside community of Ewing Beach where she can probably count on one hand the number of Black people who live there, and she's the only Black girl in her seventh-grade class. That's why Alberta is very excited when a new Black girl her age moves into the bed & breakfast across the street along with her mom. Edie is from Brooklyn so it's a bit of a culture shock for her moving all the way to California. Not to mention her parents just got divorced and she misses her dad. Alberta already has a best friend, but at first, Laramie seems to be clicking with Edie faster than Alberta. It appears uncertain as to whether Alberta and Edie will become good friends until Edie discovers a bunch of old journals from the 1950s and 60s in her attic room that were left behind when the family of the elderly woman who previously owned the B & B cleaned out the house. As the girls read the diaries, they feel a certain kinship with Constance, the woman who wrote them, so they start to dig for information on who she was and how the journals came to be in the attic. It becomes their little secret project that draws them closer together. But just as Alberta is starting to feel a deeper friendship with Edie, her friendship with Laramie begins to feel like it's falling apart when the other girl starts hanging out with the "cool" kids.

The entire book is written from Alberta's first-person perspective. She's twelve years old and about to start seventh grade. She's lived in Ewing Beach her whole life with her two dads. Alberta loves to surf, is just finishing up summer surf camp as the story opens, and is eager to start competing, but her dads say she has to wait another year until she's thirteen. Alberta's best friend is Laramie, who she considers to be pretty popular, even though Alberta herself isn't. However, as close as they are, there are things that even Laramie can't understand. Because she's white, sometimes Laramie has a tendency to brush off Alberta's concerns about race. That's why when Edie moves in across the street, Alberta is excited that maybe she'll make a new friend who has a better understanding of what it means to be Black. Being from Brooklyn, though, and also being Goth, Edie is very different from Alberta and it takes a little while for their friendship to take off. That's facilitated by their discovery of Constance's diaries, which becomes their secret passion project. Constance seems to have a keen understanding of race, and her story develops in such a way as to make the girls think about their own racial identity. Meanwhile, Alberta is bummed out when Laramie starts hanging out with Nicolette, an eighth-grade girl who always seems to be committing deliberate racist microagressions toward Alberta, leaving her wondering if they're actually still friends. I loved Alberta as the main POV character. She reminds me a little of myself at that age, being the good girl and a bit of a late-bloomer in certain ways. But despite not having Black friends, she's fairly confident in her own skin and both brave and talented to be able to surf so competently at her age. While she wants to befriend someone who fully understands what it's like to walk around in Black skin, she doesn't want to lose Laramie as a friend either. I like that Alberta tries her best to balance her friendships and also does her best to be nice to everyone.

As a concerned grandparent, I'd have no issue with my grandkids reading this book. There was very little I found that should be concerning. Alberta has two dads, but their situation is treated very matter-of-factly, like any other family. She tells her friends how she was conceived using a surrogate's egg and one of her dad's sperm, and how Denise, the surrogate, who is a close friend of her fathers', carried and gave birth to her. A pregnant Denise comes to stay with them while her husband is out of town working and she has the baby (off page) while there. The girls mention getting their periods a few times. However, all of the reproductive stuff is pretty basic and nothing that a middle-schooler shouldn't already know. One of the girls mentions a boy trying to kiss her. Then there's some exploration of race and prejudice themes, but it's all handled very gently, in such a way as to build empathy and hopefully get kids to think about these issues and perhaps ask questions. Overall, I'd say that the book is wholly appropriate for its target audience.

Ever since becoming a grandparent, I've been on the lookout for great kids' books that I can hopefully one day share with the grandkids, and The Only Black Girls in Town is just such a book. It explores themes of family, friendships, and identity in a wholesome way. I like how the girls' friendships are an ever-evolving thing. Some conflicts arise, and sometimes Edie and Laramie get a little short with Alberta, but they're eventually able to discuss things and resolve their differences. Alberta is very patient and I like how she handles issues with the resident mean girl. She does so in a confident way that doesn't come off as her being mean herself. There are also the family aspects that are handled with care. Alberta is very close with her dads and although it's a little weird to have Denise around at first, she builds a relationship with her as well and ends up included in the new baby's life. Edie lives with her single mom and misses her dad and brother back in Brooklyn, which causes her some distress, but she eventually starts to see things in a new light. Laramie has a brother who appears in the story and we learn a little of her life as well. All of the girls and their families (even though their situations are all different) just seem like completely normal people who'd make great friends. I like, too, that although Alberta and Edie keep their discovery of the journals and their research on them a secret from everyone else until the end, that they don't go running off without parental approval, so I viewed them as good role models. Then there's the whole aspect of the diaries and how Constance's life story plays into Alberta's and Edie's views of themselves. I love how it was all explored in an age-appropriate way that fosters learning about others and a building of empathy. Overall, The Only Black Girls in Town was a fantastic story that even I, as an adult, enjoyed and that I can't imagine kids who are interested in realistic fiction about family, friends, and identity wouldn't as well.

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Brandy Colbert