It is always interesting to read a book based on true events. It makes the story more personal and make you not only connect to the characters, but to the author as well. I also loved reading the author's note at the end of the book. Nevaeh is wonderful as the protagonist. She has her flaws and she struggles, but she wants to help people around her and fix her mistakes. What I also enjoyed about the story was that the entire plot and all the characters does not focus around Nevaeh. They each have their own issues in their situations, and it was so interesting to see what challenges they faced. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Color Me In.

Naveah Levitz is trapped in two different worlds. Her parents recently split up and she has to travel and stay in between two places. Her grandfather's home in Harlem and her childhood home in White Plains with her dad. For a while Naveah has felt she didn't belong anywhere. As a bi-racial kid it's hard to feel any level of acceptance anywhere...including within her own family. Naveah has only been exposed to her white side (she's half black and half white). Her cousins and her aunt are trying to connect her with her black heritage, while her bone head father tries to to show her her Jewish roots. Evening going as far as preparing her for Hebrew school and throw a bat Mitzvah (3 years too late). His purpose for it....so she doesn't lose her head and act too "black". It's even worse because her cousin Jordan is consistently reminding her she isn't welcomed into the black community. Especially since Naveah is too blinded about what's going on within the black community. Things start to get even more tense between her and Jordan when Jesus, Jordan's long time crush starts to fall for Naveah. With all this plus all the problems at her white preppy school, Naveah finds comfort in her poetry and her mother's diary that she happens to find in her grandfather's attic.

I want to thank the author for sharing her experiences a multi-racial individual through this book. She even explains it at the end of the book. It was really though provoking and insightful. There were numerous characters mentioned in the book. But it was easy to keep up with them and I didn't feel feel overwhelmed by them.

*Stevie- Naveah's best friend whose also bi-racial (White and Chinese). A talented dancer and performer. He's an amazing friend overall.
*Abby- I hated this girl with everything in my soul. The things that she would say were disgusting and I often wanted to jump through my phone and wanting to punch her in the throat. I've dealt with a Abby at my previous job and let me tell you...I'm really starting to hate the name Abby.
*Jesus- Towards the beginning of the book I wasn't really feeling Jesus. I thought he was going to be one of those guys and honestly I was anticipating him turning into a dog. I think I started to partially warm up to him towards the end of the book.
*Rabbi Sarah: At first she was annoying to me, but I warmed up to her once I saw that she was down to earth.

There were other characters in the novel. I think the two characters that I hated the most were Navaho's dad and his new stupid girlfriend Ashleigh. Holy crap what a bunch of turds. I will warn you some of the content in the book will anger you. So be on the lookout for racism, name calling, and sexual assault. It was frustrating enough reading about, I can't imagine someone going through it. The a book makes you feel all the feelings I did while reading it...you know you have a banger.

Overall the book was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. I devoured it in two days. A story that deals with the true meaning of friendship, love, and dealing with with a difficult family....and of course learning how to accept the true you. 5/5 for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a powerhouse debut! Love this! Love Natasha! Will recommend this to everyone-- shouting about it from the rooftops!

Please take my review with a grain of salt, because giving this book 2 stars and not finishing it was an incredibly personal choice. 

While I was prepared to read about a character who was at least half Jewish (which I am all for this representation!) I was not prepared for such a book that was set so much inside churches. I read about 10% of this book and so much of it was interactions inside a christian church. This was frustrating for me because I really like to know going into a book if it's going to be christian or not, and just being thrown back into this world was upsetting for me.  So I dnf this book. 

That said, go read some other reviews for this book. A lot of people really liked the representation and enjoyed the read.  I saw a few that mentioned fairly stereotypical characters, but noted that the story was enjoyable.   Just know going in, you're going to have to read about the main character dealing with judgy church people. 

I gave this book 2.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. COLOR ME IN is something of a meditation on multi-racial identity, made all the more complicated by the intersections of religion and class. I thought Diaz did an excellent job of showing Naveah's struggles to make sense of her own identity in relation to the different pieces of her life, especially in light of the way these pieces begin to feel more and more fractured for Naveah. Her growth over the course of the book is clear and compelling. And no spoilers, but there is a scene toward the end of the book that takes place in Naveah's grandfather's church that I LOVED and that really makes me want to see this book made into a movie, because it could be pretty visually stunning.

Color Me In is a powerful coming-of-age story that explores family, friendship, and love, as well as race, religion, and identity. Nevaeh struggles to feel comfortable in her own skin and with her dual heritages, Jewish and Black, which isn't helped by the fact that her parents are separated. Despite her struggles with fitting in, especially with the Black community, she also has a lot of privilege as someone who is white-passing, and she is forced to confront and acknowledge that privilege. Exploring and finding herself and her voice is a messy journey and along the way she inadvertently pushes away her best friend and builds a relationship on lies born from fear and insecurity. Ultimately, she has to own up to her mistakes and set herself straight before she can move forward. This story masterfully weaves together many relationships and subplots and concludes with a powerful and pitch-perfect finale. The romance felt like the weakest link, but the rest of the story was executed well.

Diaz deals with intricate issues such as parental neglect, abuse (psychological, sexual, and physical), racism, colorism, police harassment and brutality, mental health, microaggressions and overt racism, class, and more, all with an expert prose that makes you want to reach for more from the author. Though belatedly reviewing, I'm so glad I read it now, when I felt ready to read. I hope more people pick up this book, if only because I want more people to root for Nevaeh as she throws a punch at Abby.
(tw: implied transphobia, antisemitism, adultery, police brutality/harassment, depression, sexual assault, racism, underage drinking, abuse)

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. 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, 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 around that. 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.

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.

Color Me In by Natasha Diaz is such an important book and I believe everyone should read it to get a better understanding of what it is like to live in a world as mixed race teenager. Diaz painted such a beautiful picture and I am so thankful to have read this book. Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy.

I agree with Nic Stone - this book is absolutely outstanding! It deals with so many big issues past just growing up and falling in love. There is familial bonds being tested, there’s racial and religious intolerance, all on top of a kid just trying to figure out who they are.

A beautiful and lyrical tale that I truthfully was not expecting. I adore the cover and the title but more than that I couldn't put this book down. I was in love with this. My rating might be 4 stars but please note I would give it another half if I could!!

This book did a great job of showing the struggle of trying to reconcile two identities within oneself. I enjoyed the look at Nevaeh's mother's journal as well. Great book!

This was soooo good! Being a person of mixed race myself, I really enjoyed the representation in this. I love how it gave some light to some of the internal conflict one has when being brought up with two different cultures and both races being completely opposite. I liked the friendships and the family used in this story as well. Definitely recommend for everyone to read!

Whenever I first received this book I received it as an arc copy from Netgalley. However I never got around to actually reading it until this month. I really loved the main character Nevaeh and how religion played a minor part in the plot of the story. She had to come to terms with her parents separating and I feel like that helped her become a well rounded character in the end. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I feel like I will read her other works as they are published as well.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The things I liked most about this book are the cover and title because it makes you get a glimpse into the main problem centered in book right away. I also loved the character development and how nothing was glossed over. The family struggles, the racial struggles, all of it felt very real and I appreciated the rawness of this story. It broke my heart and I hope this book is a mirror to those who need to hear that they belong and a window for those that need to see what other's face in our world today, simply because of the color of their skin.

This book was really good and interesting. This was a story of a girl who is trying to figure out her place in 2 different worlds. The people who surround her and hep her grow made the story so good. I couldn’t put it down.

If my memory serves me right, Color Me In in the first book with a biracial MC written by a biracial author I have ever read. And the fact that this was written by someone who knows what they're talking about SHOWS, nothing quite like living the biracial experience to get it right on page. And although I am not white passing so I did not relate to a lot of the things going down in the book, some of the feelings mirrored mine so perfectly that I couldn't help but feel seen in a way.

Although I went in expecting this to be about a biracial girl who doesn't quite fit in with either one of her communities, in many ways, it was different from what I expected. But not in a bad way. Navaeh is the daughter of a Jewish man and a Black woman, who is very white passing, getting the classic and extremely racist question of whether her mom is her babysitter, her mom getting suspicious looks whenever she takes her out, etc... really pleasant Black experience (not 🙃). This book not only tackled her experience as a biracial person struggling to belong but also her white passing privilege head on, which I really appreciated. I was scared this would turn into a one-woman pity party that didn't look at the other side of coin. 

And although at first she got on my nerves because of how focused she was on her own struggles that she failed to see and acknowledge that she still held a HUGE amount of privilege and that people had it harder with you know...system racism and oppression. But as the book went on, she underwent character development and I ended up really liking how her story was handled and who she becomes by the time I flipped to the last page.

One thing that made my reading experience less enjoyable than it could have been is how...two dimensional the side characters were. The author chose one characteristic for each one of them and used it to build their whole personality around. For example: Her little cousin is a chubby little boy and most times he was mentioned or in page, it was something related to his love for food. Then her older dark-skinned cousin's only purpose in the novel was to call her out on her privilege and whenever she went out of her line. He loves food, she loves a good call-out, okay I get it but what else is there to them? The only two characters I felt were well crafted are the MC and her love interest. Then another instance of poor character development is her mom, she was really depressed after her parents got divorced, barely getting out of bed, speaking to anyone and always crying, but after one session of therapy, she was up and waltzing around the house. What? 

Okay, but to finish this review on a positive note, as I was reading, this actually beautifully written book, I stumbled across this quote that I just had to keep reading over and over and over again because of how true it rang with me and how much I loved it, so I want to share it: 

"I hope one day she'll allow herself to know what it feels like to feel safe and loved. I hope that one day she finds arms she can crumble into, even if they're her own"

I switched between the eARC and audio recordings of this book in order to finish it more quickly and utilize my commute time. I read this book in just over a day. It flowed quickly and the topic was always fresh and interesting. I especially enjoyed the Jewish aspect of Neveah's identity. Many of my students will identify with the feeling of being caught between two cultures as well as seeing their parents' relationship crumble.
It took the entire first half of the book for characters to start to solidify. Before that point it was confusing to keep the minor characters' straight.

I found ‘Color Me In’ as a thought-provoking story about Neveah Levitz, a 16 year old girl having to live through the trauma of divorce and leaving her childhood home in White Plains. Neveah moves to Harlem with her mother. Harlem was her mother’s childhood home, yet Neveah struggles to identify with her close-yet-distant extended family and cousins in this new environment. Being a bi-racial young woman, Neveah struggles to re-discover her own identity through a close-knit community, and finding her own voice through the written word.

‘Color Me In’ is a very intense story, as it handles the issues of race and culture through the eyes of someone struggling to understand her own place in society. The story itself is written in lovely prose as well. If you haven’t picked up your copy of ‘Color Me In’ yet, you definitely should. You won’t be disappointed!

Cathleen (Woven From Words)
https://wovenfromwords.com
My email: wovenfromwords@gmail.com

Review Links:
Blog Review: (posted on Aug 21) http://wovenfromwords.com/2019/08/21/sazon-book-tours-aug-21st-color-me-in-review/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1V1JZF0DPFSVG/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0525578234

Barnes & Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/color-me-in-natasha-diaz/1129938938?ean=9780525578239#/

I wanted so much from this title and there was so much that could have been! It just didn't grab me and hold me in, and if it did that for me, I can't recommend it for my students.