I didn't know what to expect as I dove into my ARC of Color Me In, but now it's one of my new favorite books. I should apologize before getting into my review because I haven't actually done this in a very long time and am a little rusty at this book reviewing business, but I am grateful to Sazón Book Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour for this book. Secondly, for relevant important background information, I am US-born and of Taiwanese-Chinese and Brazilian heritage, but I am monoracial.

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Color Me In is a deeply moving and powerful book that spoke to some of the deepest parts of me. The book follows Nevaeh Levitz, a biracial Black and Jewish girl, navigating her parents' difficult divorce, race and white-passing, religion, a new neighborhood, family dynamics, and more. Nevaeh and I are in many ways very different, but in other ways we are similar. I'm from a fairly affluent suburban town outside of NYC, and I temporarily moved to NYC for college. I often feel like I don't fit in and am not "enough" for my Asian/Taiwanese-Chinese side nor for my Brazilian side.

Reading the book, you can tell that this comes from a deeply personal place for Natasha Díaz. The internal struggles Nevaeh goes through are so visceral, so real, so accurate, and so nuanced. For anyone who has struggled with their mixed identity, Color Me In speaks to that experience so well, even if you don't connect to the specific identities in the book. I don't want to say too much, in part because it's hard to put into words the way I feel about this (in the best way) and because I don't want to give too much away. If you want to understand what it's like for some of us who have very different, sometimes conflicting backgrounds, I think the book does it well. My heart swells every time I think about the representation here and how important it is, not only for those of us who can relate to it but also for the readers who cannot and get a peek into our world. Although vastly different from my own experience (and I don't claim to understand what it's like to be Jewish and/or biracial and/or Black), the book leaves me feeling so seen and reminds us that we are enough with every part of ourselves. I'm at the point in my life and journey and healing where I still have moments of feeling not-enough, and I often still don't feel like I fit exactly into any space, but I am also at peace with it and know that I truly am enough, but I think for readers like me who aren't at that point yet (as a teen, I wasn't), Color Me In will reach deep down and help them feel it in their heart and their core. This book is powerful and beautiful and soft and proud, through and through.
Additionally, Color Me In handles white-passing privilege and race extremely well. I was fascinated by the different personalities in the book, particularly Jordan, Nevaeh's activist cousin. Nevaeh and Jordan clash often for lots of reasons, a major one being Nevaeh's passing privilege and her lack of awareness. Díaz handles this with grace and nuance and love, and I am grateful to how this was explored on page, especially as Nevaeh made mistakes, grew, and learned to do better but in her own way. She made mistakes and owned up to them when she was held accountable. This process touched upon fragility, but it also beautifully handled redemption, never condemning Nevaeh--even if other characters do. Nevaeh makes mistakes, suffers the consequences, and she takes action to hold herself accountable for the pain she caused, intentionally or not. Whatever your personal politics, the book shows growth and what it means to use one's privilege to uplift. I was worried that the book would frame Jordan as being too "woke" or leftist or whatever other words you want to use, but she was not only balanced out and treated with the same care as Nevaeh and Janae (another one of Nevaeh's cousin) and Rabbi Sarah and Anita (Nevaeh's aunt) and all the other characters, and in the end, both Nevaeh and Jordan respected one another and opened up to one another. This transformation was beautifully done and spectacularly handled the "political" aspect involved.

Novel Aesthetic for Color Me In

As I was nearing the end of the book, I began to think about the structure of the plot of the book. It tends to focus for several chapters on one conflict or one major aspect of Nevaeh's life before finally switching back to something else Nevaeh is going through. At first, I thought that this was maybe a negative thing, and I could see readers who prefer plot-heavy books being disappointed. The book doesn't really have that huge climax moment but rather contains a more roller-coaster like plot, with several highs. In that way, the book is neither slow nor fast paced but something in between. I think that kind of lull works perfectly with this book and its aims, and I also think it's something that's true to life. The different plots/conflicts are inter-related and none fully over-power the other, and I think it's really well-balanced. The romance was kind of insta-love-y, and I don't even really feel like we saw any true connection or fully got to see their relationship, but I also think that it's not even close to the most important aspect or relationship in the story and so it didn't bother me as much.

Instead, friendship and family are the heart of Color Me In, and rightfully so, given the content and soul of the book. From Nevaeh's relationship to her parents and her changing family situation, to Rabbi Sarah's own struggles, to Nevaeh's relationship to her cousins and her aunt, to Nevaeh's close friendship with Stevie, to Nevaeh dealing with bullies, to Nevaeh's relationship with herself, and to Nevaeh's relationship to her community and those within it. There's so much depth and breadth, and I actually also think the book quietly says quite a bit about setting up and maintaining boundaries and letting go of toxic people and those who can't or won't change. There's a lot that's perhaps unresolved at the end--or that people may have trouble/issue with, but I think real life, especially for a teen is like that--messy and sometimes imperfect.

If you couldn't tell already, I am in love with this book and all that it manages to do. I think it takes a lot of lessons and messages that activists and organizers and scholars talk about, teach about, and act on and puts it into a fictional story that is accessible and will reach many. What you take away from it is what effort you put in to really think about and internalize what Color Me In is trying to say. Díaz has created what I imagine is a book of her heart and therefore the book of hearts like hers. It's the kind of book that I think you can continue to get more out of with every time that you read it. I can't recommend this book enough, and I hope that you'll pick it up to read.