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See No Color
Black daughter, white father, white mother.
Race, adoption, and identity collide in this award-winning #OwnVoices debut about a teen challenging the life she's always known.
Being a transracial adoptee doesn't bother sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge-at least, not in a way she can explain to her white family. It doesn't matter that she's biracial when she's the star of the baseball team. But when Alex is off the field, she's teased for "acting" too white and judged for looking black. And while she loves her parents, her hot-headed brother, and her free-speaking sister, they don't seem to understand what it means that Reggie, a fellow ball player, is the first black guy who's wanted to get to know her.
Things only get more complicated when she finds hidden letters from her birth father. Alex can't stop asking questions. Does she really fit in with her family? What would it be like to go to a black hairdresser? Should she contact her birth father, despite the fact that it might devastate her parents? Meanwhile, her body is changing, and Alex isn't sure she can keep up with her teammates. If she's going to find answers, Alex must come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her.
Author Shannon Gibney draws from her own experiences as a transracial adoptee to deliver this honest coming-of-age novel about a girl who doesn't know where she wants to fit in.
Being a transracial adoptee doesn't bother sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge-at least, not in a way she can explain to her white family. It doesn't matter that she's biracial when she's the star of the baseball team. But when Alex is off the field, she's teased for "acting" too white and judged for looking black. And while she loves her parents, her hot-headed brother, and her free-speaking sister, they don't seem to understand what it means that Reggie, a fellow ball player, is the first black guy who's wanted to get to know her.
Things only get more complicated when she finds hidden letters from her birth father. Alex can't stop asking questions. Does she really fit in with her family? What would it be like to go to a black hairdresser? Should she contact her birth father, despite the fact that it might devastate her parents? Meanwhile, her body is changing, and Alex isn't sure she can keep up with her teammates. If she's going to find answers, Alex must come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her.
Author Shannon Gibney draws from her own experiences as a transracial adoptee to deliver this honest coming-of-age novel about a girl who doesn't know where she wants to fit in.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
55 people are currently reading
1606 people want to read
About the author
Shannon Gibney
22 books116 followersShannon Gibney was born in 1975, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was adopted by Jim and Sue Gibney about five months later, and grew up with her two (biological) brothers, Jon and Ben.
Shannon has loved to read and to write as far back as she can remember. When she was in second grade, she started making “books” about her family’s camping trips, and later graduated to a series on three sibling detectives in fourth grade.When she was 15, her father gave her James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, a book that changed her life and made her see the possibilities of the written word. The novel took a long, difficult look at relations between Blacks and Whites, the poor and the rich, gay and straight people, and fused searing honesty with metaphorical beauty. After this experience, Shannon knew that she needed to read everything Baldwin had ever written, and also that she wanted to emulate his strategy of telling the most dangerous, and therefore liberating kind of truth, through writing.
High school was a time for tremendous growth for Shannon, as she had the opportunity to attend Community High, a place that nurtured independence and creativity. At Carnegie Mellon University, Shannon majored in Creative Writing and Spanish, graduating with highest honors in 1997. She was awarded their Alumni Study/Travel Award, and used it to travel to Ghana to collect information for a short story collection on relationships between African Americans and continental Africans.
At Indiana University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program, Shannon honed her understanding of the basic elements of story-writing. She was in Bloomington from 1999 to 2002, and earned an M.A. in 20th Century African American Literature, as well as her M.F.A. while she was there. As Indiana Review editor, she conceived of the literary journal’s first “Writers of Color” special issue, and brought it to fruition, also in 2002.
Shannon has called Minneapolis home since 2002. She moved there right after completing her graduate work at Indiana, and took a job at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the state’s oldest Black newspaper. A three-year stint as managing editor of this 75-year-old publication introduced Shannon to the vibrant, growing, and diverse Black community in the Twin Cities, and also gave her vital insight into the inner-workings of a weekly newspaper. When she left in 2005, Shannon had written well over 100 news and features stories for the paper.
The Bush Artist Fellows Program took Shannon’s daily life in a new direction. In 2005, she was awarded a grant, which allowed her to quit her job at the Spokesman, and devote most of her time to her creative work.
After completing her Bush fellowhip in summer 2007, Shannon joined the faculty in English at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) in the fall, and became Full-Time Unlimited (FTU) faculty there in 2009. She lives with her son Boisey, and daughter Marwein, in the Powderhorn neighborhood of South Minneapolis.
Shannon’s Young Adult (YA) novel SEE NO COLOR was published by Carolrhoda Lab, a division of Lerner Publications, in November, 2015, and subsequently won a 2016 Minnesota Book Award in the category of Literature for Young Adults. She was also awarded a $25,000 2015 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers, administered by the Loft Literary Center. She used the funds to support work on a family memoir, tentatively titled Love Across the Middle Passage: Making an African/African American Family.
Other publications this year include a short story in the Sky Blue Water anthology of children’s literature from Minnesota writers, the opening essay in the critically-acclaimed and popular A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota anthology, edited by Sun Yung Shin. The Star Tribune published an excerpt of Shannon’s essay “Fear of a Black Mother,” which you can read here.
In 2017, look for Shannon’s short story “Salvation,” in Eric Smith’s new anthology of adoption-
Shannon has loved to read and to write as far back as she can remember. When she was in second grade, she started making “books” about her family’s camping trips, and later graduated to a series on three sibling detectives in fourth grade.When she was 15, her father gave her James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, a book that changed her life and made her see the possibilities of the written word. The novel took a long, difficult look at relations between Blacks and Whites, the poor and the rich, gay and straight people, and fused searing honesty with metaphorical beauty. After this experience, Shannon knew that she needed to read everything Baldwin had ever written, and also that she wanted to emulate his strategy of telling the most dangerous, and therefore liberating kind of truth, through writing.
High school was a time for tremendous growth for Shannon, as she had the opportunity to attend Community High, a place that nurtured independence and creativity. At Carnegie Mellon University, Shannon majored in Creative Writing and Spanish, graduating with highest honors in 1997. She was awarded their Alumni Study/Travel Award, and used it to travel to Ghana to collect information for a short story collection on relationships between African Americans and continental Africans.
At Indiana University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program, Shannon honed her understanding of the basic elements of story-writing. She was in Bloomington from 1999 to 2002, and earned an M.A. in 20th Century African American Literature, as well as her M.F.A. while she was there. As Indiana Review editor, she conceived of the literary journal’s first “Writers of Color” special issue, and brought it to fruition, also in 2002.
Shannon has called Minneapolis home since 2002. She moved there right after completing her graduate work at Indiana, and took a job at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, the state’s oldest Black newspaper. A three-year stint as managing editor of this 75-year-old publication introduced Shannon to the vibrant, growing, and diverse Black community in the Twin Cities, and also gave her vital insight into the inner-workings of a weekly newspaper. When she left in 2005, Shannon had written well over 100 news and features stories for the paper.
The Bush Artist Fellows Program took Shannon’s daily life in a new direction. In 2005, she was awarded a grant, which allowed her to quit her job at the Spokesman, and devote most of her time to her creative work.
After completing her Bush fellowhip in summer 2007, Shannon joined the faculty in English at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) in the fall, and became Full-Time Unlimited (FTU) faculty there in 2009. She lives with her son Boisey, and daughter Marwein, in the Powderhorn neighborhood of South Minneapolis.
Shannon’s Young Adult (YA) novel SEE NO COLOR was published by Carolrhoda Lab, a division of Lerner Publications, in November, 2015, and subsequently won a 2016 Minnesota Book Award in the category of Literature for Young Adults. She was also awarded a $25,000 2015 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers, administered by the Loft Literary Center. She used the funds to support work on a family memoir, tentatively titled Love Across the Middle Passage: Making an African/African American Family.
Other publications this year include a short story in the Sky Blue Water anthology of children’s literature from Minnesota writers, the opening essay in the critically-acclaimed and popular A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota anthology, edited by Sun Yung Shin. The Star Tribune published an excerpt of Shannon’s essay “Fear of a Black Mother,” which you can read here.
In 2017, look for Shannon’s short story “Salvation,” in Eric Smith’s new anthology of adoption-
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
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October 13, 2015A really fascinating and necessary slice-of-life novel about Alex, a biracial girl, who is adopted by white parents. Set in Madison, WI, it had me from the start, but it kept me with Alex's voice. This is a story about baseball, about family, about "not seeing color," about blackness, and it even has a little romance -- one that's realistic and not at all the driving force behind the novel.
This is a shorter read and one that I can see so many teen readers picking up and seeing themselves in. The discussions of biracial identity are interesting, as is the look into transracial adoption. But what struck me throughout was Alex's quest to choose her future and her life for herself and no one else. She makes the calls on what she does, where her passions lie, and how she chooses to identify.
Pair this with Renee Watson's THIS SIDE OF HOME.
This is a shorter read and one that I can see so many teen readers picking up and seeing themselves in. The discussions of biracial identity are interesting, as is the look into transracial adoption. But what struck me throughout was Alex's quest to choose her future and her life for herself and no one else. She makes the calls on what she does, where her passions lie, and how she chooses to identify.
Pair this with Renee Watson's THIS SIDE OF HOME.
November 1, 2015
See No Color provides a close look into one transracially adopted Black teen’s life around the time she begins to think more reflectively about her blackness and adoptee-ness. While many would like to believe that adoption is a universally wonderful way to build a family, author Shannon Gibney makes plain through her protagonist Alex that being both black and adopted is complicated, especially in a world where competing voices and interests try to control representations of adoption in the media and adoption discourse itself. Gibney does not sugarcoat any of hardships that transracially adopted teens may face: she lays out the microaggressive and racist comments that family members say to Alex; explains why Black children are considered “special needs” and therefore are cheaper to adopt; and has Alex honestly and unapologetically describe both the shame and sense of wonderment she feels when she starts spending time with more Black people. As the story unfolds, Alex comes to a better understanding of who she is as a black teenager in a white family and white world, but the journey is not easy, nor is it over by the book’s end. Because this novel grapples with many of the complexities, nuances, and realities that transracially adopted Black persons face on a sometimes daily basis, and also considering that few young adult adoption narratives are written by adopted persons who can share from their own experiences, See No Color is a necessary read for any young person.
November 10, 2015
Quite disappointed in this book...needed to keep reminding myself of Adichie's TED talk "Danger of a Single Story." My sister is a transracial adoptee raised in Madison. To say that Alex's parents were pretty clueless is an understatement. The pretty much complete absence of her mom in the story especially bothered me. And that her younger sister knew more about her adoption than she did just didn't make sense to me. And having been raised in Madison, it's almost impossible to make the trip to Detroit in a weekend without your family knowing. Just getting stuck in Chicago traffic would take up hours. Other more minor things that could have been helped with better editing: there are no Kroger's in Wisconsin; a high school baseball coach wouldn't drink alcohol with his players present; the University of Wisconsin doesn't have a baseball team; the likelihood of two Clemson baseball players ending up both coaching high school baseball in Madison is slim-to-none. What I did like: the parts about her hair and her interest in baseball.
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August 20, 2015This is a very solid novel, and while there are a few rough spots where the voice seems "off" (not really like that of a teen), and the ending is really abrupt, it's a really fantastic look at identity with an nice peppering of family and baseball.
September 11, 2018
I admire an author who can craft a novel of less than 200 pages which I can read in a single evening and which enlightens me. I am male. I was not adopted. Being German and Scottish does not qualify as being "mixed." I came of age in a very homogeneous locale. So, Shannon Gibney gave me some things to think about by sharing Alex's story of being a transracial adoptee. It felt authentic and given Gibney's background, I have no reason to think it isn't a fair representation of the issues. And then there are the bonuses: baseball (the sport I grew up with), Hank Aaron (my childhood, and beyond, sports hero), and Eau Claire (my hometown).
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November 9, 2015!!!!!!!!!!!! This book is so important and I have so many things to say later when I get them all down. like all of these thoughts, i guess: http://mclicious.org/2015/09/22/white...
January 11, 2016
This book is perfect. I almost don't think I need to go beyond giving it 5 stars. Adequate words fail me in the face of such talent and skill in storytelling.
The pacing is excellent, the structure classic without feeling forced - the steady build up of tension to a crescendo (emotional meltdown) followed by resolution and empowerment. The author depicts a very realistic, age-appropriate developmental crisis, aka "coming of age" story, of a transracial adoptee. It's a modern journey of discovery rarely told thus far by adoptees in contemporary fiction and there is not a wasted word or scene, completely natural dialogue and relationships and reactions between characters. It's just flawless.
I don't feel like there is a lot more I can say without doing what the parents did in this book, which was to explain Alex to herself way too often. I hope I have read it as an anti-manual for adoptive parenting but I may never succeed in rising above the temptation of control, false as the illusion may be. And every kid, no matter what deck they've been handed, eventually has to find their own way in spite of their parents' best intentions.
Inspirational quote, universal for anyone who feels freakish in a world that dictates a narrow set of norms, (not a spoiler but it is well into the journey):
Alex has discovered the world of online adoptee blogs and forums,
The pacing is excellent, the structure classic without feeling forced - the steady build up of tension to a crescendo (emotional meltdown) followed by resolution and empowerment. The author depicts a very realistic, age-appropriate developmental crisis, aka "coming of age" story, of a transracial adoptee. It's a modern journey of discovery rarely told thus far by adoptees in contemporary fiction and there is not a wasted word or scene, completely natural dialogue and relationships and reactions between characters. It's just flawless.
I don't feel like there is a lot more I can say without doing what the parents did in this book, which was to explain Alex to herself way too often. I hope I have read it as an anti-manual for adoptive parenting but I may never succeed in rising above the temptation of control, false as the illusion may be. And every kid, no matter what deck they've been handed, eventually has to find their own way in spite of their parents' best intentions.
Inspirational quote, universal for anyone who feels freakish in a world that dictates a narrow set of norms, (not a spoiler but it is well into the journey):
Alex has discovered the world of online adoptee blogs and forums,
" . . I reflected on the fact that I might not be as much of a freak as I always thought I was. Maybe I just belonged to an outlaw tribe. One you wouldn't even know was there unless you knew how to go looking for it. And maybe those of us in the tribe weren't responsible at all for what had happened to us, all the things that had made us who we were. Maybe we actually had nothing to apologize for. To anyone."
July 1, 2016
Close to four stars. The parts of the story dealing with transracial adoption, Alex's struggle with identity, and her relationship with her adoptive family and birth family were very well done. As the book was coming to a close and I realized , I was a bit disappointed. In retrospect, though, I appreciated Gibney's choice.
There was a small issue that really bothered me throughout the book, which I've tried not to affect my rating. That issue is Kit. I have a high tolerance for precocious children in books, but Kit was a completely unbelievable 11 year old. She talked and reasoned like she was in her twenties.
Overall, this was a good book, and one I'd love to get into the hands of teen readers.
There was a small issue that really bothered me throughout the book, which I've tried not to affect my rating. That issue is Kit. I have a high tolerance for precocious children in books, but Kit was a completely unbelievable 11 year old. She talked and reasoned like she was in her twenties.
Overall, this was a good book, and one I'd love to get into the hands of teen readers.
March 26, 2017
This was a pretty powerful book. The pacing felt like an intense freight train chugging along and it really capitalized on the helplessness that Alex feels in coming to grips with her identity.
The book definitely focuses on Alex's struggle as a biracial teen adopted by white parents. However there are a lot of issues touched on including sexism, gender roles, family dynamics and finding your voice and identity.
I actually really liked the detailed sections during the games. I am a baseball fan, so maybe that's why I loved this more than other readers and it added a lot of credibility to the characters of Alex and her father.
Well done.
The book definitely focuses on Alex's struggle as a biracial teen adopted by white parents. However there are a lot of issues touched on including sexism, gender roles, family dynamics and finding your voice and identity.
I actually really liked the detailed sections during the games. I am a baseball fan, so maybe that's why I loved this more than other readers and it added a lot of credibility to the characters of Alex and her father.
Well done.
February 16, 2016
I was so incredibly disappointed in this book. I went in truly excited as to where the story might lead me - a book about a biracial child who was adopted by a white family - Great subject! But then I started reading.
First, the author continually uses the word mixed instead of biracial. I could of handled it if she had said mixed race but no, she just said mixed.
Second, the father in the story continually to remind people that the daughter is "mixed". It seems as though he is offended by the black part of her race and needs to dilute it. I have known, literally, dozens couples who adopt outside of their race and they most certainly do not adopt a race to which they hold animosity or prejudice.
Third, the author shows little to no affection between the daughter and her adopted parents. She almost completely disregards them.
Fourth, the main character, Alex, gives up her virginity with very little thought before or after. No conversation or forethought. This is a YA book. I find the writer's choice to portray this act as a non-event irresponsible and out of character for Alex.
Overall, as I biracial person and a mother, I would NEVER recommend this book to a juvenile or teen.
First, the author continually uses the word mixed instead of biracial. I could of handled it if she had said mixed race but no, she just said mixed.
Second, the father in the story continually to remind people that the daughter is "mixed". It seems as though he is offended by the black part of her race and needs to dilute it. I have known, literally, dozens couples who adopt outside of their race and they most certainly do not adopt a race to which they hold animosity or prejudice.
Third, the author shows little to no affection between the daughter and her adopted parents. She almost completely disregards them.
Fourth, the main character, Alex, gives up her virginity with very little thought before or after. No conversation or forethought. This is a YA book. I find the writer's choice to portray this act as a non-event irresponsible and out of character for Alex.
Overall, as I biracial person and a mother, I would NEVER recommend this book to a juvenile or teen.
September 7, 2020
This was an interesting story with a great deal of potential that suffered from too many variables. Alex, a Black girl, is the adopted daughter of a white family. Her father, a former professional baseball player, eats, breathes, and lives baseball. Alex and her brother, Jason, are coached by their father, making for a sometimes awkward and tense father-child relationship. During their run to the Wisconsin high school station championship, Alex learns about years of letters from her biological father that have been kept from her, she struggles to find her place in the world, and she begins dating an opposing pitcher.
There are a great many young adult books that follow multicultural or interracial protagonists attempting to find their footing in a white world. The Hate You Give and Dear Martin are a few of the brilliant ones. This, too, could have kept those books company if it had just focused on Alex's most pressing need: feeling fully accepted by her adoptive white family while coming to grips with the history she doesn't know about her biological parents.
The added dimension of baseball and the complicated relationship with her father were just too much.
There are a great many young adult books that follow multicultural or interracial protagonists attempting to find their footing in a white world. The Hate You Give and Dear Martin are a few of the brilliant ones. This, too, could have kept those books company if it had just focused on Alex's most pressing need: feeling fully accepted by her adoptive white family while coming to grips with the history she doesn't know about her biological parents.
The added dimension of baseball and the complicated relationship with her father were just too much.
February 15, 2016
A quick but meaningful YA debut about Alex, a baseball player and transracial adoptee in Wisconsin. Even though it's got some sports in it (ugh), the sport didn't overwhelm the story and I whipped through it.
The only other YA book I've read about transracial adoption was Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, but I don't remember thinking that one would be as life-changing for teens as I think this one will be. See No Color reminded me of a lot of "coming out" novels that I've read, in that it was occasionally didactic, but in a way that feels nourishing to me.
I also want white adults who are considering adopting a child of another race to read this. The fictionalized parents in this book say some awful but all-too-common things to their black daughter.
It wasn't a perfect book (the younger sister irritated me to no end), but it's a must-have for all public libraries.
The only other YA book I've read about transracial adoption was Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, but I don't remember thinking that one would be as life-changing for teens as I think this one will be. See No Color reminded me of a lot of "coming out" novels that I've read, in that it was occasionally didactic, but in a way that feels nourishing to me.
I also want white adults who are considering adopting a child of another race to read this. The fictionalized parents in this book say some awful but all-too-common things to their black daughter.
It wasn't a perfect book (the younger sister irritated me to no end), but it's a must-have for all public libraries.
July 11, 2022
3.5 ⭐️
En fin berättelse men jag fastnade tyvärr inte helt och hållet. Delvis kan jag inget om baseball så det är först i slutet jag känner att jag börjar leva mig in i det/förstå snacket. Sen saknar jag också lite vad som hände med vissa relationer. Det känns för mig som att berättelsen slutar där den riktiga utveckligen börjar. Jag undrar vad; hände sen?
Men det här är ändå en fin berättelse och jag tror att många kan lära sig en hel del och ex börja reflektera kring identitet och identitetskapande, förebilder osv
En fin berättelse men jag fastnade tyvärr inte helt och hållet. Delvis kan jag inget om baseball så det är först i slutet jag känner att jag börjar leva mig in i det/förstå snacket. Sen saknar jag också lite vad som hände med vissa relationer. Det känns för mig som att berättelsen slutar där den riktiga utveckligen börjar. Jag undrar vad; hände sen?
Men det här är ändå en fin berättelse och jag tror att många kan lära sig en hel del och ex börja reflektera kring identitet och identitetskapande, förebilder osv
November 22, 2015
I appreciate that she talked about the different intersections of race, culture, class, and even religion. Chapter seven was amazing but it didn't stop there. It built up and continued to dig deep at those intersections. No Hollywood endings here and I thank the author for that.
March 28, 2017
3.5 Stars
One of the most eye opening books I read last year was A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH, a collection of essays about growing up as a Person of Color in Minnesota. One of the most striking essays to me was the one that Shannon Gibney wrote, about experiencing a racist encounter at a grocery store when she was there with her family, and how African American children are more likely to be treated as suspicious or as criminals than white children. I didn't realize that she also writes fiction, until I picked up her novel SEE NO COLOR. Gibney is insightful and very honest in her writing, and so reading her YA debut was something I was looking forward to.
Alex is a transracial adoptee living in Madison, Wisconsin. Her parents are white, her younger siblings are white, and she is biracial. Her parents have tried to raise her under the idea of colorblindness, that race doesn't matter and that Alex is just like them. Alex is a huge baseball fan, and is gearing up for an important season. But then she discovers that her biological father has been trying to contact her. Suddenly, Alex starts to feel and see all the ways that she is treated differently from her family, even by her family. As she starts to try and figure out her own identity, she starts to question exactly who she is and where she belongs.
First thing is first and I want to state it right away and emphatically. The message of this book is one that I can one hundred percent get behind. I think that the misguided myth of being 'colorblind' is something that just exacerbates issues of race. I also think that Alex's experience felt very real and very relevant, from the microaggressions that she has to live with each day from everyone around her, to the racism that is planted within some aspects of adoption agencies (children of color having a lower adoption fee, or being listed as 'special needs', for examples). I love that this story is being told, as I think it's an important one that makes the reader face and acknowledge that these kinds of situations are far more complex than many people would like to acknowledge. That said, some of the literary aspects of this book felt a bit clunky. I had the hardest time with Alex's sister Kit, who is supposed to be eleven but sounds far older in her words and actions. She was kind of there to be the impetus for Alex to start asking these questions, but man was her precociousness distracting and unrealistic. That really took me out of those parts. There is also a decision that Alex makes in the novel that seemed incongruent with previous known facts,
Overall, I think that this is definitely a book that teens should read. The message itself is an important one, and the story is one that should be reflected more within literature narratives.
One of the most eye opening books I read last year was A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH, a collection of essays about growing up as a Person of Color in Minnesota. One of the most striking essays to me was the one that Shannon Gibney wrote, about experiencing a racist encounter at a grocery store when she was there with her family, and how African American children are more likely to be treated as suspicious or as criminals than white children. I didn't realize that she also writes fiction, until I picked up her novel SEE NO COLOR. Gibney is insightful and very honest in her writing, and so reading her YA debut was something I was looking forward to.
Alex is a transracial adoptee living in Madison, Wisconsin. Her parents are white, her younger siblings are white, and she is biracial. Her parents have tried to raise her under the idea of colorblindness, that race doesn't matter and that Alex is just like them. Alex is a huge baseball fan, and is gearing up for an important season. But then she discovers that her biological father has been trying to contact her. Suddenly, Alex starts to feel and see all the ways that she is treated differently from her family, even by her family. As she starts to try and figure out her own identity, she starts to question exactly who she is and where she belongs.
First thing is first and I want to state it right away and emphatically. The message of this book is one that I can one hundred percent get behind. I think that the misguided myth of being 'colorblind' is something that just exacerbates issues of race. I also think that Alex's experience felt very real and very relevant, from the microaggressions that she has to live with each day from everyone around her, to the racism that is planted within some aspects of adoption agencies (children of color having a lower adoption fee, or being listed as 'special needs', for examples). I love that this story is being told, as I think it's an important one that makes the reader face and acknowledge that these kinds of situations are far more complex than many people would like to acknowledge. That said, some of the literary aspects of this book felt a bit clunky. I had the hardest time with Alex's sister Kit, who is supposed to be eleven but sounds far older in her words and actions. She was kind of there to be the impetus for Alex to start asking these questions, but man was her precociousness distracting and unrealistic. That really took me out of those parts. There is also a decision that Alex makes in the novel that seemed incongruent with previous known facts,
Overall, I think that this is definitely a book that teens should read. The message itself is an important one, and the story is one that should be reflected more within literature narratives.
February 8, 2025
I enjoyed the first portion of the novel. I felt bad for Alex, as she felt alienated by both her family and her peers because of her skin color. I found that the novel took a turn near the middle, as characters began using the "n-word" and there was a sexual scene between the protagonist and her boyfriend. Now, I am not opposed to literature having sexual scenes, but the fact that this book is targeted towards a younger audience, made me raise my eyebrows a bit. Additionally, the ending to the book was not as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. There were certain things that I wanted to happen (I will not spoil them) that did not take place.
Overall, decent read. Really good first half. Second half had good moments, but I didn't feel the same energy as the first half.
Overall, decent read. Really good first half. Second half had good moments, but I didn't feel the same energy as the first half.
January 30, 2019
Currently, I am on page 80, finished part 1 of the book. So far, the book is very good and interesting. I say interesting because of the fact how real she is with the reader. What has happened so far is that Alex, main character of the book, is a black girl who is adopted into a white family. She was 5 months old when she was adopted. She is now 16 and had found letters that her parents had been hiding from her. The letters were from her real father who always wrote to her in hopes of getting a response and meeting Alex. Due to Alex finding these letters, she has been explaining how things don't feel the same between her and her parents, as well as siblings. Her sister Kit had talked about Alex being black while they were at the dinner table. Basically, questioning how Alex doesn't see that she is the only black person in their family and how people give them looks because she is black. It all was very awkward and emotional. She also has met a boy by the name of Reggie, who is black and also plays baseball like she does. I just got to the part where she ran into him at a store and he walked her to her car. So far, this book has been very good and deep in the way of emotionally deep. There is also that idea of her being special needs because she read her adoption papers and saw that he was "special needs". She hasn't brought it up in the book since but knowing that really changes the readers perspective on how she thinks.
(update) I finished the book and thought it was very good and appealing. I could connect to the book because I am adopted as well but the only difference is that I am not black in a white family. She had the extra challenge because of the judgement that always circulated everywhere they went together. She was very descriptive and used a lot of pathos by explaining how she felt and how she thought others felt. She also mentioned something very interesting that she found out in the book and this might be a spoiler to some. When she was looking through her letters from her real father, she saw other documentation of the adoption. She was labeled as 'special needs' and that really caught my eye. Later in the book, she goes to the library to research about adoption and the racial issue and she finds out that apparently, if a black kid is set for adoption and is put under special needs, they are cheaper and easier to adopt. I don't believe she was special needs but it explained that because of the color of her skin, the labeled her as 'special needs'. That was so interesting and crazy to me because I would never have guessed that could happen. Overall, the book was very good. The only real downside of the book was the excessive descriptions of baseball. I don't play baseball nor do I know the language of baseball so whenever those sections came, I felt bored and did not understand any of it.
(update) I finished the book and thought it was very good and appealing. I could connect to the book because I am adopted as well but the only difference is that I am not black in a white family. She had the extra challenge because of the judgement that always circulated everywhere they went together. She was very descriptive and used a lot of pathos by explaining how she felt and how she thought others felt. She also mentioned something very interesting that she found out in the book and this might be a spoiler to some. When she was looking through her letters from her real father, she saw other documentation of the adoption. She was labeled as 'special needs' and that really caught my eye. Later in the book, she goes to the library to research about adoption and the racial issue and she finds out that apparently, if a black kid is set for adoption and is put under special needs, they are cheaper and easier to adopt. I don't believe she was special needs but it explained that because of the color of her skin, the labeled her as 'special needs'. That was so interesting and crazy to me because I would never have guessed that could happen. Overall, the book was very good. The only real downside of the book was the excessive descriptions of baseball. I don't play baseball nor do I know the language of baseball so whenever those sections came, I felt bored and did not understand any of it.
November 9, 2017
This was required reading for a black heritage conference we're attending as a family. It's the story of a biracial teenager growing up in her white family in Madison, WI. The author does a beautiful job of capturing the otherness felt by transracial adoptees and, also, of the harm caused by white parents that refuse to see color. I cringed many times reading Alex's story. I learned a lot, too. A must read for any transracial adoptive family.
May 3, 2018
Rating this book was really difficult because I really liked the story and idea of the book but I didn't like the writing as much. I liked that the book was about baseball and had some issues like race and adoption but the book was quite short and ended really quickly without tying up several things.
August 31, 2021
Lots of this book talks about baseball and if you don't understand the rules, it's quite uninteresting. So the first part of the book 3/5 rating but stick with it.
There is a very interesting discussion on identity, race from the perspective of a mixed race teenager growing up in a white adoptive family. I guess "seeing no colour" is not always a good thing as the book explores...
There is a very interesting discussion on identity, race from the perspective of a mixed race teenager growing up in a white adoptive family. I guess "seeing no colour" is not always a good thing as the book explores...
January 7, 2021
It was a nice, easy read. I have been reading a lot of
YA books that tackle race. This one is different because it talks about transracial adoption. The topis is interesting but somehow I cannot really find something that would make me love or root for the main character.
YA books that tackle race. This one is different because it talks about transracial adoption. The topis is interesting but somehow I cannot really find something that would make me love or root for the main character.
October 5, 2017
Natalia Rodriguez
Mrs.Marlow
ELA hr 2
4 October 2017
See No Color Review
See No Color is a great book by Shannon Gibney. This book is Nonfiction, but it’s not a true story, so it's realistic fiction. The topic of this book is about being adopted and how you feel about certain things and some of the things you have to through with being an adoptee.
The main character of this book is Alex, she is an adopted African American girl who was adopted into a White family. Some of the other characters in this book are Alex’s father who was a former baseball player, but now is coach for Alex's baseball team, Her Mother who is very nice and acts just like any other Mother, her brother Jason who is also a baseball player on the high school team, and her sister Kit who is very different from the family she is quiet and isn’t into to sports like her two older siblings.
The author Shannon Gibney did a really good job with the book. The book was very entertaining and informative, the book was entertaining to me because it talked a lot about a sport I really liked, but it was also informative because it talked about what it’s like being an adopted child and it showed some of the things you have to go through. The writing of this book is really powerful and descriptive because she describes a lot of the things that happen but it’s said in a powerful way. Some strengths about this book is that it’s challenging but not too long to read, the chapters aren’t too short, and it’s a nice book to read in general.
In conclusion this is a really good book and I recommend it to people who like sports specifically baseball/softball, and if you just want to be intrigued with this interesting story. This book really caught my eye and I enjoyed reading it.
Mrs.Marlow
ELA hr 2
4 October 2017
See No Color Review
See No Color is a great book by Shannon Gibney. This book is Nonfiction, but it’s not a true story, so it's realistic fiction. The topic of this book is about being adopted and how you feel about certain things and some of the things you have to through with being an adoptee.
The main character of this book is Alex, she is an adopted African American girl who was adopted into a White family. Some of the other characters in this book are Alex’s father who was a former baseball player, but now is coach for Alex's baseball team, Her Mother who is very nice and acts just like any other Mother, her brother Jason who is also a baseball player on the high school team, and her sister Kit who is very different from the family she is quiet and isn’t into to sports like her two older siblings.
The author Shannon Gibney did a really good job with the book. The book was very entertaining and informative, the book was entertaining to me because it talked a lot about a sport I really liked, but it was also informative because it talked about what it’s like being an adopted child and it showed some of the things you have to go through. The writing of this book is really powerful and descriptive because she describes a lot of the things that happen but it’s said in a powerful way. Some strengths about this book is that it’s challenging but not too long to read, the chapters aren’t too short, and it’s a nice book to read in general.
In conclusion this is a really good book and I recommend it to people who like sports specifically baseball/softball, and if you just want to be intrigued with this interesting story. This book really caught my eye and I enjoyed reading it.
June 7, 2020
Loved getting to know Alex as she tried to work through her feelings about her transracial adoption, who she was, and her changing relationship with her family and baseball. I will say, for me, there were a few too many loose ends, even if this was supposed to be some work in progress kind of thing. Nonetheless, a very interesting and honest look at identity and transracial adoption.
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August 12, 2016
I appreciate the discussion of what it's like to be a transracial adoptee, but overall this novel was really inconsistent.
Alex's narrative voice felt young much of the time. It seemed strange to me that at 16, and at the prompting of her 11-year-old sister, she is only now thinking about her biological family. Some flashbacks show experiences she had with people making assumptions about her family or being bullied by other black kids at school, but she doesn't reflect on them in any way. She also is portrayed in some ways as a late bloomer, the book describes her being uncomfortable with the way her body is changing and how it relates to baseball, but on the other hand she is not at all uncomfortable with her body when she gets physically intimate with her first boyfriend and seems rather mature in those scenes.
The setting is also strange. At times it felt like a historical novel, for example in the consistent use of the word "mixed" (as in mixed-race) and the mention of attending a baseball game of a team that hasn't existed in 25 years or so. But Alex also reads blogs at the library, seems to have a cell phone, and reads a book that was published in 2013. It made me wonder how much of the story is autobiographical and how that might have muddled the timeline.
Finally, the ending is really abrupt. Alex's falling out with baseball is not really developed. In the beginning there is a lot of work done to show how much Alex really loves baseball, and her decision to quit playing seems more like a passive-aggressive dig at her dad than a sign of growth. Her big decision to quit against her family's wishes all happens off page, and for a character who is silent throughout most of the book and lets people talk for her or goes along with assumptions people make even if it means that she has to lie to keep them going, it felt really strange and unbelievable.
Alex's narrative voice felt young much of the time. It seemed strange to me that at 16, and at the prompting of her 11-year-old sister, she is only now thinking about her biological family. Some flashbacks show experiences she had with people making assumptions about her family or being bullied by other black kids at school, but she doesn't reflect on them in any way. She also is portrayed in some ways as a late bloomer, the book describes her being uncomfortable with the way her body is changing and how it relates to baseball, but on the other hand she is not at all uncomfortable with her body when she gets physically intimate with her first boyfriend and seems rather mature in those scenes.
The setting is also strange. At times it felt like a historical novel, for example in the consistent use of the word "mixed" (as in mixed-race) and the mention of attending a baseball game of a team that hasn't existed in 25 years or so. But Alex also reads blogs at the library, seems to have a cell phone, and reads a book that was published in 2013. It made me wonder how much of the story is autobiographical and how that might have muddled the timeline.
Finally, the ending is really abrupt. Alex's falling out with baseball is not really developed. In the beginning there is a lot of work done to show how much Alex really loves baseball, and her decision to quit playing seems more like a passive-aggressive dig at her dad than a sign of growth. Her big decision to quit against her family's wishes all happens off page, and for a character who is silent throughout most of the book and lets people talk for her or goes along with assumptions people make even if it means that she has to lie to keep them going, it felt really strange and unbelievable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2016
3.5.
I am an advocate of this narrative--there definitely needs to be more adoptee voices in literature, esp. transracial, transnational, and esp. in YA. Adoption is something I'm always trying to learn more about, and this perspective shone some light on tough issues that transracial families can face.
I'm also very glad this book is getting exposure through its recent acquisition of the MN Book Award for Youth Lit!
The first half was also very engaging! I couldn't put it down and read it late into the night.
The reason for the lower rating is because I wasn't in love with the author's writing in places, as well as the narrative resolution.
From a writing standpoint, the book felt overworked in places (and, having heard the author at a recent talk say that she had been working on it for, I think, 10 years, it makes sense). I found Kit unbelievable for an 11 year old - and I am usually quite forgiving in this area (ie. John Green novels, Ender's Game, etc. etc.)
Lastly, the ending felt super rushed and unresolved. I understand that, in life, things aren't tied up with ribbons, but there should have been some sort of scene toward the end with Alex and her family that, whether positively or negatively, addressed some of the major events toward the end of the book
I am an advocate of this narrative--there definitely needs to be more adoptee voices in literature, esp. transracial, transnational, and esp. in YA. Adoption is something I'm always trying to learn more about, and this perspective shone some light on tough issues that transracial families can face.
I'm also very glad this book is getting exposure through its recent acquisition of the MN Book Award for Youth Lit!
The first half was also very engaging! I couldn't put it down and read it late into the night.
The reason for the lower rating is because I wasn't in love with the author's writing in places, as well as the narrative resolution.
From a writing standpoint, the book felt overworked in places (and, having heard the author at a recent talk say that she had been working on it for, I think, 10 years, it makes sense). I found Kit unbelievable for an 11 year old - and I am usually quite forgiving in this area (ie. John Green novels, Ender's Game, etc. etc.)
Lastly, the ending felt super rushed and unresolved. I understand that, in life, things aren't tied up with ribbons, but there should have been some sort of scene toward the end with Alex and her family that, whether positively or negatively, addressed some of the major events toward the end of the book
December 31, 2015
Identity in your teen years is often like fresh Jell-O, slippery, hard to mold and quivery. What if you're a different color than everyone else in your family and have absolutely no reference point as to what that means? Meet sixteen year old Alex Kirtridge, a transracial adoptee. She knows her father was black and her mother was white, but that's pretty much it. Black kids treat her as though she's some odd thing and her adoptive parents pretty much ignore her ethnic heritage, pretending they are colorblind.
None of this helps her self image or comfort in her skin. She's really good at baseball and plays on her dad's team with her brother Jason, who is a year younger. At the time of her adoption, her parents believed they couldn't have kids of their own, but now there are two, Jason and a sister Kit who is several years younger. Kit seems to be the only family member who 'gets' Alex's feelings about her black heritage and pushes her to do something about it by showing her letters her real dad wrote to her. Alex's parents hid them and learning this, along with their contents, unsettles her even more as does her attraction and budding relationship with Reggie, a black pitcher on another high school team.
What Alex does about her lack of self-image, her birth dad, her feelings about Reggie and baseball as well as her course in the future make this a very good book for teens with similar backgrounds as well as teens who want to understand friends or peers in similar family situations. It's a good choice for school and public libraries where issues like this are important.
None of this helps her self image or comfort in her skin. She's really good at baseball and plays on her dad's team with her brother Jason, who is a year younger. At the time of her adoption, her parents believed they couldn't have kids of their own, but now there are two, Jason and a sister Kit who is several years younger. Kit seems to be the only family member who 'gets' Alex's feelings about her black heritage and pushes her to do something about it by showing her letters her real dad wrote to her. Alex's parents hid them and learning this, along with their contents, unsettles her even more as does her attraction and budding relationship with Reggie, a black pitcher on another high school team.
What Alex does about her lack of self-image, her birth dad, her feelings about Reggie and baseball as well as her course in the future make this a very good book for teens with similar backgrounds as well as teens who want to understand friends or peers in similar family situations. It's a good choice for school and public libraries where issues like this are important.
March 13, 2021
Trigger warnings: racism, colourism, erasure of cultural background by white adoptive family??, death of a parent (in the past), mentions of alcohol addiction.
I borrowed this book last month when I was only reading books by Black authors and then ran out of time to read it. Better late than never? This is a tiny little book - less than 200 pages - and I flew through it. So it's definitely a fast-paced story, and I did like the characters.
But. This is a book that's about baseball, a sport I will never understand. And yet it's also a book about a biracial girl who was adopted by a white family and that white family spent her entire life being all "we don't see you as a Black kid because we love you" and it takes her 11 year old sister to make her see that that's a special brand of bullshit right there.
I loved the dynamic between Alex and her sister, Kit. I liked that the story dealt with Alex wanting to learn more about her adoption and her biological parents. But this somehow felt like it was cramming too much into such a short amount of time - a boyfriend, researching adoption, realising that elements of her life could have been different if her white parents had just let her be a Black kid, discovering that her biological father wrote to her for years, meeting her biological father, AND endless pages about baseball and playing baseball and training for baseball and do I even want to play baseball and it was just...it was a lot to fit into 200 pages, and I wished it had been 50-100 pages longer to do it all justice.
I borrowed this book last month when I was only reading books by Black authors and then ran out of time to read it. Better late than never? This is a tiny little book - less than 200 pages - and I flew through it. So it's definitely a fast-paced story, and I did like the characters.
But. This is a book that's about baseball, a sport I will never understand. And yet it's also a book about a biracial girl who was adopted by a white family and that white family spent her entire life being all "we don't see you as a Black kid because we love you" and it takes her 11 year old sister to make her see that that's a special brand of bullshit right there.
I loved the dynamic between Alex and her sister, Kit. I liked that the story dealt with Alex wanting to learn more about her adoption and her biological parents. But this somehow felt like it was cramming too much into such a short amount of time - a boyfriend, researching adoption, realising that elements of her life could have been different if her white parents had just let her be a Black kid, discovering that her biological father wrote to her for years, meeting her biological father, AND endless pages about baseball and playing baseball and training for baseball and do I even want to play baseball and it was just...it was a lot to fit into 200 pages, and I wished it had been 50-100 pages longer to do it all justice.
February 15, 2021
This book had so much promise in my opinion. But, I really disliked how it was written. Alex is a "transracial adoptee", or in simpler terms, a child of mixed race who was adopted by white parents and has white siblings. The driving factor of most of the story is Alex's struggle with her shifting identities. She doesn't feel like she knows what it means to be black or a black daughter/sister in a otherwise white family. She is now becoming a teenager whose changing body affects her ability to play a sport that has defined her relationship to her father as she has played her entire life. The way that baseball fits into her life so harshly makes it feel like she feels expected to do this to fit in, rather than wanting to do it. The family dynamic was probably my least favorite part because of how it seems as though the family is unstable. The younger sister is pretty much ignored because she doesn't like baseball and the younger brother has anger issues that lead to physical situations and it was all glossed over like it was okay. I think Kit, Alex's younger sister was my least favorite character. I didn't like how it seemed like the younger sister didn't want Alex there and pushed her into searching for her biological family because she "didn't fit with a white family". Overall, this book just was not for me.
August 20, 2015
Alex is a transracial adoptee - her mother was white, father was black and she was given up for adoption at birth. Her adoptive parents are very into baseball and have been training her for baseball greatness her entire life. In her late teens, she suffers the dual crisis of beginning to not be the perfect baseball player (as the boys begin to physically out perform her) and facing her biological past.
There is enough meat on the bone of each crisis for a full book but both of them are relegated to a partial story. There are many good passages that tell the story of parent living the sports dream through his children, a girl dealing with sports in a boys world, and the internal drive for perfection. There are just as many good passages about Alex dealing with life as a adopted transracial teen and all that means in her life - the questions and confusion she has, how she feels she has no one to confide in, and how out of place she feels.
I really appreciate the intent of Gibney to tell the story of a transracial teen; I just felt that this story left readers without an emotional connection with Alex.
There is enough meat on the bone of each crisis for a full book but both of them are relegated to a partial story. There are many good passages that tell the story of parent living the sports dream through his children, a girl dealing with sports in a boys world, and the internal drive for perfection. There are just as many good passages about Alex dealing with life as a adopted transracial teen and all that means in her life - the questions and confusion she has, how she feels she has no one to confide in, and how out of place she feels.
I really appreciate the intent of Gibney to tell the story of a transracial teen; I just felt that this story left readers without an emotional connection with Alex.
March 28, 2016
I didn't have high hopes for this book -- not because of the issues of identity and race and family -- but because baseball does not captivate my attention or imagination unless I am sitting in a stadium and eating ballpark snacks. Holy moly, this book blew me away. It's not just a good story about adoptees, about family, about race, about identity -- it's a good story, period. Alex is a phenomenal character, and all the characters are realistic, sympathetic, and compelling. Also, guest appearance by Hank Aaron, one of the very few baseball players I've a) heard of and b) admire the hell out of? Yes, please. Added bonuses: Milwaukee setting (hi, Sconnie neighbors!) and Minnesota author (REPRESENT!).
This book is for baseball/softball players, for your daughters (adopted, biological, or simply of the heart), for kids who have darker or lighter skin than the others around them and who have been forced to pay attention to this, for the kids in the city and for the kids on the rez, and, really, for everyone.
This book is for baseball/softball players, for your daughters (adopted, biological, or simply of the heart), for kids who have darker or lighter skin than the others around them and who have been forced to pay attention to this, for the kids in the city and for the kids on the rez, and, really, for everyone.
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