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ENCHANTED STORIES: The Only Black Girls in Town

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The Only Black Girls in Town
By Brandy Colbert
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2020. Fiction.

Alberta is used to being the only Black girl her age in her small California beach town. For the most part things are pretty chill - her coach says she's the best surfer at camp, she loves living with her dads, and eating butter pecan ice cream with her best friend Laramie. Then, right before seventh grade, her dads bring home exciting news - another Black family is moving in across the street and they have a daughter, Edie, Alberta's same age. Though Alberta is a California surfer girl and Edie is a goth Brooklynite, the two become fast friends after they discover some mysterious old journals in Edie's attic. The two are dealing with a lot -- shifting family dynamics, microaggressions at school (the principal asks them if they're cousins on the first day and a teacher calls Edie by Alberta's name), and middle school drama (including Laramie starting to spend time with theschool mean girl who bullies Alberta with racist taunts).

This story about two very different friends trying to survive middle school is a compulsive one-sitting read. Edie and Alberta are immediately likable characters and readers will be eager to uncover the secrets of the mysterious journals along with the girls. These journals are a great tool to provide historical information (the murder of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott are emphasized) without seeming overly didactic. For me, the friendship between Edie and Alberta is a real highlight. The girls feel realistic and seeing two well-characterized Black girls at the center of a middle grade novel is wholly welcome. Readers who like realistic fiction will love this book.
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