(2) YA On May 30, 1921--just over one hundred years ago--a young Black man tripped in an elevator and caught his ­balance on the arm of the elevator operator, a young white woman who screamed in surprise. He was arrested the next day, May 31; as the story spread, an angry white mob started to assemble outside the courthouse. That night, the Tulsa Race Massacre began in earnest and carried over until the evening of the following day, June 1. The mob descended on the prosperous African American neighborhood of Greenwood to destroy property, take lives, and terrorize the Black population. Colbert chronicles each day with immediacy and in detail, with interspersed chapters providing necessary background information: Oklahoma's journey to statehood; the forced relocation of American Indian tribes; the rush to claim and settle land; the discovery of oil; the KKK and the practice of lynching to intimidate Black people; the rise of Greenwood, the "Black Wall Street," and its numerous Black-owned businesses; and the social mobility of African ­Americans during World War I. A foreword describes the author's personal ­connection to this story, while the afterword makes universal connections, drawing parallels between historical and contemporary events. A bibliography, source notes, and an index are also appended. Primarily a fiction writer, ­Colbert (The Only Black Girls in Town; The Voting Booth, both rev. 7/20) extends her range with this excellent nonfiction book, a welcome contribution to the growing ­literature about this tragedy; see also Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper's picture book Unspeakable (rev. 1/21), a 2021 Boston Globe–Horn Book Nonfiction honoree.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) 4-6 Since they moved there when she was two, rising seventh grader Alberta and her dads have been one of the few Black families in Ewing Beach, California. Her mean-girl neighbor, Nicolette, won't let her forget it. "It's just that you're, like, different." Her best friend Laramie doesn't consider it. "You're just you...I don't really think about you being black." When Edie and her mom move in across the street, Alberta is excited that there will be another Black girl her age in town, especially as her friendship with Laramie is being tested (by Nicolette). Edie discovers some old journals in her attic bedroom, and she and Alberta quickly become wrapped up in trying to figure out who the author, Constance, was and how her journals ended up there. Several chapters include Constance's journal entries, allowing readers to share in the mystery with Alberta and Edie. Alberta's authentic-sounding struggles with race, friendship, family, and belonging are very much a part of the middle-school experience. Many readers will easily relate to Alberta--and will enjoy the additional narrative layer of solving the mystery of Constance.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

(2) YA Marva Sheridan is an eighteen-year-old activist who can't wait to vote in her first election. Fellow high school senior Duke Crenshaw also plans to vote, though he's more lukewarm. When Duke is turned away at the polling station, bystanding Marva convinces him to join her "on a mission for democracy," in an effort to have Duke cast his vote before the polls close--and before his band's first paying gig. Having canvassed neighborhoods and helped people register to vote, Marva, whose hero is Fannie Lou Hamer, is poised to follow the necessary steps on Duke's behalf--steps that become increasingly convoluted. What follows is a whirlwind of activity (the pacing can be frenetic at times), presented in alternating first-person narration, involving familial and romantic relationships, women's rights, race relations (Marva is Black; Duke is biracial), lost pets, and guilty secrets. While the ballot is described as an important one, the brief references to issues including immigration reform, prison reform, and gun violence--which is of personal importance to Duke's family--don't identify (or limit) the story to one specific election. Colbert has created a work that highlights both the methods and the stark effects of voter suppression, particularly for people of color.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

(2) YA African American sixteen-year-old Dove ("Birdie") is on the "right" track, with good grades and a clear life plan chosen by her parents. When Birdie's fresh-from-rehab aunt Carlene arrives, Birdie begins to rebel, including by dating Booker, a kindhearted boy with a difficult past. Vivid dialogue and rich descriptions of the Chicago setting serve the story well. Birdie's believable first-person perspective reflects a protagonist who evolves to trust her own instincts.

Reviewer: Christina L. Dobbs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) YA High-school senior Yvonne realizes that she has lost her passion for the violin and isn't good enough to attend a music conservatory after graduation. She struggles to forge a new path, finding an ally in street musician Omar and risking her relationship with current love interest Warren. It takes an unplanned pregnancy for Yvonne to decide who she wants to be. Colbert's characters are complex: equal parts endearing and infuriating.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku

(2) YA After her stepbrother Lionel's bipolar diagnosis, their parents sent Suzette to boarding school. While Suzette is home in L.A. for the summer, Lionel covertly stops taking his medication and then obliviously pursues a romance with her friend/crush Rafaela. With compelling honesty, Colbert portrays Suzette's evolving understanding of her bisexuality, Lionel's longing for self-sufficiency alongside the challenges of his mental illness, and the difficulty of shifting familial relationships.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(2) YA In this suspenseful, absorbing novel, seventeen-year-old Theo Cartwright's best friend Donovan reappears after four years missing. Theo soon realizes his kidnapper is her (older) ex-boyfriend, Trent. Theo's first-person narration reveals both disturbing details of her time with Trent and her current conflicting feelings of guilt and jealousy: "Either Donovan ran away with my boyfriend...or I was charmed by the scum of the fucking earth."

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2014