Living in the same general area as the main character in the book, though I did not grow up there, I looked forward to seeing what I missed in my youth. It appears I missed quite a bit, though that might be a good thing.

Jennifer Baszile writes a sometimes intriguing book about life as a black girl in a white neighborhood. It's not just her story, but that of her whole family and the community of Palos Verde, California.

On the good side Baszile presents events honestly and openly; on the bad side, she does not paint a picture of her family that seems to back the loving praise she gives it in her acknowledgments. Also, many things are left unanswered (her mother and father's ultimate relationship because of his affairs) or incomplete (what happened to her savior from the summer college trip?).

Although Baszile definitely shows the problems she had growing up in a rich, white suburb, she does not seem to to give the dysfunctional families of her mother and father as much blame as they might deserve regarding her self esteem and mental health.

In spite of the shortcomings mentioned above, this is still a good book and well worth reading, especially if you want a glimpse of Southern California's South Bay area in the 70s and 80s and how it dealt with racial issues.