Frazier, Sundee T. (2010). The Other Half of My Heart. New York: Random House/Delacorte Press. 304 pp. ISBN 978-0-385-73440-0 (Hard Cover); $16.99.

Minerva and Keira King are twin sisters. They love each other as only twin sisters can. Minni is white and Keira is black—and they are competing against each other in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America pageant.

Frazier explores race in an extremely creative and thought-provoking way in this novel. The fundamental and notable question that it addre More...

I was very conflicted about this book. I know there are not very many books for young readers that give such a sensitive perspective on race, and while I feel this could lead to some great, thoughtful discussions, there are also parts that cheapen the narrative. The fact that the twins are constantly looking for ways to demean and embarrass their grandmother really bothered me. Why couldn't Minni have great conversations with her grandmother in addition to Dr. Oliphant? I also had a hard time be More...

Genre: Contemporary Realism
Summary: A novel about a set of interracial twins that are learning that not everyone sees them the same. Minni has very light skin like dad while Kiera has very dark skin, like mom. When their grandmother enters them both into the Miss Black Pearl Teen Pageant, the sisters close relationship is tested.
Critique:
a. The area for comment: The author’s ability to illuminate a serious topic in a way that young children can understand and relate to.
b. The true strength of t More...

11 year-old biracial twins Minerva “Minni” and Keira King look like a chessboard: Keira is black like their Mama and Minni is white like their Daddy. Despite their physical and personality differences, these two sisters share a bond of the heart that goes deep. However, their close relationship is tested when they visit their Grandmother Johnson in North Carolina who has enrolled them to compete in the Miss Black Pearl of America Program. Shy, red-haired and pale-skinned Minni begins to understa More...

"Other Half Of My Heart" was about mixed race twins, Minni and Keira, who are coming down to North Carolina to compete in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America, while juggling sisterly qualities and racism in the mix.

This book was NOT worth the time it took to read. I had to read it for school, and it came across to me as a book with many faults and few redeeming qualities. (Very few.)

First off, I am not racist. But this book instilled a sense of racism for me . . . to Caucasians. Only African More...

I really wasn't sure what I was going to think about this book when I first started reading it. Twins Keira and Minerva (Minni) were going to leave Washington State to visit their Grandmother Johnson in North Carolina to participate in the Miss Black Pearl Pageant, which was a longtime family tradition. Minni was very sellf-conscious about entering a contest for black girls, however, because she had red hair and very fair skin. The girls' father was white and their mother was black. Grandmother More...

This book is about twin eleven-year-olds, Keira and Minerva, "Minni" King who are biracial. Keira has dark skin and curly hair, Minni has white skin and almost-straight, red hair. Their mother is black, their father, white. They live in a small town in Washington state, where there are exactly two black people, Keira and her mother, as one of their mother's friends callously points out. Minni is hurt when she overhears this statement. She feels keenly her lack of any outward signs that she is bl More...

I truly enjoyed this book. It is one of those books that I would recommend to my 5th graders as well as to teens and adults.

This contemporary book is a serious look at racial issues (and for those who may think we have moved beyond those issues, this book will make you rethink that). It also has many light hearted moments. Grandmother Johnson provides quite a bit of comic relief.

Two things could have made this book better. One is a better cover. It just doesn’t do the story justice. It looks so More...

(from July 2010 SLJ)
Eleven-year-old twins Keira and Minni are used to the funny looks their “chessboard family” receives: Keira takes after their black mother and Minni takes after their white father. In spite of their differences in appearance and personality, the girls share a bond that they are convinced cannot be broken. When their maternal grandmother invites them to fly from their coastal Washington town to North Carolina so that she can enroll them in the Miss Black Pearl of America Progr More...

In The Other Half of My Heart, eleven year old biracial twins, Kiera and Minni live with their parents in Port Townsend, WA. Kiera has dark skin and curly hair like their mother while Minni has pale skin and straight red hair like their father. The girls' maternal grandmother invites them to North Carolina for ten days to compete for the title of Miss Black Pearl Preteen in America. As preparations for the pageant are underway, it becomes clear that the sisters have each had negative experiences More...

This story was thought-provoking and touching at the same time. Keira and Minerva are fraternal, bi-racial twins. Keira is darker skinned and Minni is lighter skinned with red hair. Through their mother (who is reluctant) and grandmother (who is pushing it), they become involved in a pageant for African-American girls. At first I was sort of off-put by the idea of a pageant, but then I realized it was really just the vehicle for the author to explore the ideas of identity and race in America. Pl More...

Fraternal twin girls are born parents of different races, and their appearances are vastly different: Minni has fair skin and red hairlike their dad, and Keira has darker skin and curly hair like their mother.

Although I was really interested in the plot, I felt like the writing was a bit didactic and unrealistic. I just couldn't reconcile the fact that the parents of the girls, who are very involved in their children's lives and have dealt with pretty painful race dynamics in their own marriage, More...

Keira and Minni are twins--but not identical by a long shot. With an Irish-American dad and an African-American mother, Keira got her mother's dark skin and her dad's feisty temper while Minni got her mom's round eyes and her dad's red hair and freckle-pink skin. Strangers don't believe that they're sisters, let alone twins.

It's a very slow, plodding plot. The characters are never developed with the kind of complexity you might hope for, the only real plot device (a pageant) consumes the vast ma More...

Biracial twin sisters Keira and Minerva don't look anything alike. Keira is dark-skinned like her African-American mother and Minnie has blue eyes and light skin like her white father. Growing up in a small Washington State town, Keira is the one who always feels different and sometimes wrong. But when their grandmother insists on entering both girls in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America program in her hometown of Raleigh, NC, Minnie will discover what it's like to be the one who doesn't fi More...

Minni and Keira King were born on a day when the sun and moon shared the sky, but that was not the only unique thing about their birth, they were considered one-in-a-million twins by the national news. Minni resembled their white father with fair skin, red hair, and blue eyes. Keira on the other hand, had traits closer to their black mother with dark curly hair, cinnamon-brown skin, and brown eyes. Minni always pictured her family as a chessboard whenever they walked side by side. Keira and Minn More...

You would never know that Minni and Keira King are twins: Minni is white like their Daddy and Keira is black like their Mama. They live in Port Townsend, Washington. The year they turn 11, their Grandmother Johnson want them to participate in the Miss Black Pearl of America Program in North Carolina. Keira is extremely excited, but Minni is more than a little anxious. What will the other girls say when they see her white skin? But according to Mama and Grandmother Johnson, Minni is just as black More...

This is the kind of story about family and identity that I would recommend in a heartbeat to kids looking for that kind of story - one that takes childhood and sense of self seriously, adds in some humor and a reasonably compelling plot, and delivers a satisfying ending.

The story takes an interesting look at race by telling the story of twin girls, one who looks like their white father and the other who looks like their black mother. Whether or not these particular issues of race are ones that More...

Memorable story about close-knit twin sisters who are biracial and look very different from each other. It's a serious look at racial issues, but with lots of lighthearted moments and a pre-teen pageant plot that will really appeal to girls. (I almost wish the cover played up the pageant angle to get girls reading; it looks awfully serious.) The girls are appealing and realistic main characters. I was intrigued by Frazier's vivid depiction of the difference between being black in small-town Wash More...

Kiera and Minnie are twin sister of a white father and a black mother. Kiera's skin is like her mom's and Minnie's like her dad's. They are best friends and, of course, when people meet them they find it hard to believe they are related, much less twins. The live in a predominantly white community in Washington State. Their grandmother from North Carolina wants them to come and compete in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen Pageant. Kiera can't wait; Minnie's not excited...she doesn't like feeling out More...

I thought this was a really good book. The girls leave to go to their Grandmothers house and most of the story takes place there. The girls, Minni and Keira are twins and best friends, but they are totally different. I liked how well the sisters got along and how they stuck up for each other. They have to enter a Miss Black Pearl pageant. It's an all black pageant and Minni is not looking forward to it. She is self conscious and doesn't want to stick out. Kiere is dyslexic and she can't read tha More...

Minnie and Keira are twins. They were born only seven minutes apart. However, Minni was born with reddish blond hair and white skin like her daddy. Keira was born with "cinnamon-brown" skin and dark curly hair like her mother. The girls are sent from Washington to North Caroline to visit their grandmother. She has entered them in the Miss Black Pear contest. For the first time, Keira feels like she fits in. Minni suddenly feels like she doesn't belong as they question whether she qualifies to be More...

When do you talk with your children openly about race? Do you talk about noticing the color of someone's skin? I was fascinated last spring listening to Po Bronson, author of NurtureShock, talk to a group of parents about scientific research and implications for raising children. One of the topics he covered was how parents are doing a grave disservice to their children by trying to be "color neutral" and avoid discussions of race. As he writes in a column in Newsweek, "Ignoring the color of ski More...

Imagine: What it would be like for twin sisters, with one white parent and one black parent, who look like they belong to two different races? As a parent of a biracial child, I am always eager to read what few books are out there about growing up biracial. Author Sundee Frazier, who knows about that first-hand, has written a delightful, fun book about twin sisters with this black-and-white dilemma. When the girls move from a white community in Washington State to visit their black grandmother i More...

Sundee Frasier did a wonderful job of developing the characters of Grandma Johnson, Kiera and Minni. This was a pretty tough topic to cover and she did it well.
The story is about twins who have a white father and a black mother. The twins are born 7 minutes apart and Minni looks white and Kiera, black.Minni inisits she is black too even though she has silky red hair and fair skin. Living in Washington State Kiera often feels left out because she is black in a white world. When they go visit Gra More...

I really enjoyed this story of twin sisters who are very different. Being fraternal twins one looks more like her African American mother and the other like her Caucasian father. One has a bold and adventurous personality, the other a reserved and studious demeanor. They are each others best friend and confidant until their maternal grandmother enters them in the Miss Black Pearl Pre-teen competition in North Carolina. This is first a sister story, and second an exploration of prejudice, discrim More...

"Had the wrong in the world gotten inside Grandma Johnson to make her think that they were right?"

A coming of age story about two biracial twins finding their place in a world that isn't colorblind. Minny, takes after her father with red-hair and freckles, and Keira, after her mother with dark skin and curly hair. The two are best friends and it seems like nothing could come between them until their Southern Grandmother enrolls them in the Ms. Black Pearl Jr. competition. They soon realize that More...

I am struggling with how to review The Other Half Of My Heart because I didn't enjoy it very much. The plot was predictable, the climax was subtle, and everything seemed to drag on and on through out the story.

I felt that 3 quarters of the book was just set up! The real part of the book happened in the last few chapters, so the book was pretty boring for the majority.

I was confused at how the author thought the book was oh so complete, because the plot was so boring. The idea was great, twin sis More...

The Other Half Of my heart by Sundee T. Fraizer is a delightful book that you will not want to put down. This story is about the importance of seeing with your heart and not looking at everything with your eyes. Also this story shows the importance of not letting the little things in life get between an important relationship. Minnie and Kiera are twins and nothing can separate them. These aren't just any twins,one is black and one is white. Minnie always says these are just eight silly genes an More...

I think this book was amazing. In some parts, I was literally rolling on the floor laughing, and in other parts I was feverishly reading, completely absorbed in the book. I read it in less than 24 hours... I got up at 7:30 just so I could finish it. We all wish for a friend from which we are inseparable. Minni and Keira are just that. Together, they overcome their mean grandma and a beauty pageant. It really brings up the topic of race, and how these biracial twins feel in the world today. The c More...

Sundee Frazier is the most thoughtful, kind, and honest person I know. And her newest book is an exploration of the two sides of her own self -- the outgoing and the shy. I think any writer can relate to that! And I think kids will relate to a sibling relationship that's tight and complicated and fraying a bit as the twins bump into the preteen years.

I felt I got inside Minnie, the lighter of bi-racial twins, and really felt her outsider/where do I belong pain. But I missed getting to know and u More...