Genesis Begins Again
by Alicia D. Williams
Middle School    Dlouhy/Atheneum    386 pp.    g
1/19    978-1-4814-6580-9    $17.99
e-book ed.  978-1-4814-6582-3    $10.99

Regina and the popular girls are coming over after school to hang out, eat snacks, and watch music videos. It’s a dream day for thirteen-year-old Genesis. That is, until she gets to her house and sees all of her family’s belongings put out on the street. Genesis is devastated, and the situation is made even worse when Regina and her crew make fun of her (as usual). Beginnings are nothing new to Genesis — she’s started over after being evicted three times before, all because her dad doesn’t pay the rent. Genesis hates moving almost as much as she hates the way she is teased about her dark skin (kids call her Char, short for charcoal) and kinky hair. Now, she has to worry about a new home and school (again), as well as the unraveling of her family from past secrets that threaten to undo her as well. In her debut novel, Williams tells the story of a girl who feels invisible, unloved, and un-pretty and her journey to learning that beauty really is only skin deep. In addition to the challenges of colorism, Williams addresses the consequences of addiction and the instability that goes along with it.

From the January/February 2019 Horn Book Magazine.