Review: The Other Half of Happy

At school, she is ridiculed both because she is and is not latina (in appearance yes, in culture, no)–sometimes called a coconut [brown on the outside, white on the inside]. She sings in the choir, loves English class, has two great friends and has trouble with some mean girls. Internally, she struggles to figure out who she is, at the same time rejecting everything she perceives as being forced upon her. I know. She sounds like the ordinary 12-year-old. And that’s why this is extraordinary. As she faces each challenge, and overcomes each perceived failure, she builds her identity with each step.

Review: Red (A Crayon’s Story)

The plot is a straight-forward one. A pencil, symbolic in that pencils are generally used to describe everything presented to the eyes, the heart and the mind, tells us the story of a crayon called Red. His name is Red, because he’s wrapped in a red wrapper. But, to anyone who can see beyond the wrappings, he’s a blue crayon with a red label.

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