Brandy Colbert
Author of Little & Lion
About the Author
Image credit: via Amazon.com
Works by Brandy Colbert
Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (2021) 300 copies, 11 reviews
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Adapted for Young People) (ReVisioning History for Young People) (2021) 68 copies, 3 reviews
Good Luck and Farewell 1 copy
Associated Works
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America (2019) — Contributor — 645 copies, 15 reviews
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America (2018) — Contributor — 169 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Missouri State University (BA|Journalism)
- Occupations
- faculty
- Agent
- Tina Dubois (ICM Partners)
- Short biography
- Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the winner of the 2022 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the American Library Association's Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. Her other acclaimed books include Pointe, The Only Black Girls in Town, and Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, and her short stories and essays have appeared in several critically acclaimed anthologies for young people. She is on faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, and lives in Los Angeles.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Springfield, Missouri, USA
- Places of residence
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Rating: 4.5* of five
The Publisher Says: This definitive biography of Rosa Parks accessibly examines her six decades of activism, challenging young readers perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement.
Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress performed a single act that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and birthed the modern civil rights movement, Jeanne Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks' politics and decades show more of activism. She shows readers how the movement radically sought--for more than a half a century--to expose and eradicate the American racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public services, and criminal justice and how Rosa Parks was a key player throughout. The original text is fully adapted by the award-winning young adult author Brandy Colbert, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include archival images and personal papers of Rosa Parks, and to provide the necessary historical context to bring the multi-faceted, decades long civil rights movement to life. Colbert creates an engaging and comprehensive narrative centered on Parks' life of activism, to encourage readers not only to question where and who their history comes, but to search for histories beyond the dominant narratives.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU. CONTENT WARNING FOR RAPE.
My Review: Author Theoharis's 2014 Image Award-winning adult biography of civil rights icon Rosa Parks has been adapted for younger readers! Brandy Colbert's work for YA audiences has been on Los Angeles Public Library's Best YA Fiction lists, and has won a Stonewall Book Award in 2010. Between these two powerful writers, the project couldn't have been in better hands.
The story of Mrs. Parks's lifetime of struggle against the racial prejudice she was subjected to routinely, and the sexism that all women were subjected to while she was growing up, makes for sobering reading. The fact that both of these issues remain prominent in 2022's US national conversations does not speak well of our ability, as a body politic, to learn from our errors and omissions of thinking.
Lie, cheat, obfuscate...then lie some more. After all, it doesn't matter if you tell lies when you're Right.
The major issues that Mrs. Parks drew attention to are still present in US society. It really bids fair to wrap one's soul in a fog of despair, sixty-seven years after this brave woman made a stand against being treated as less than, other than, another person simply because of her skin color, and we're facing the same issues over and over again. show less
The Publisher Says: This definitive biography of Rosa Parks accessibly examines her six decades of activism, challenging young readers perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement.
Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress performed a single act that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and birthed the modern civil rights movement, Jeanne Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks' politics and decades show more of activism. She shows readers how the movement radically sought--for more than a half a century--to expose and eradicate the American racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public services, and criminal justice and how Rosa Parks was a key player throughout. The original text is fully adapted by the award-winning young adult author Brandy Colbert, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include archival images and personal papers of Rosa Parks, and to provide the necessary historical context to bring the multi-faceted, decades long civil rights movement to life. Colbert creates an engaging and comprehensive narrative centered on Parks' life of activism, to encourage readers not only to question where and who their history comes, but to search for histories beyond the dominant narratives.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU. CONTENT WARNING FOR RAPE.
My Review: Author Theoharis's 2014 Image Award-winning adult biography of civil rights icon Rosa Parks has been adapted for younger readers! Brandy Colbert's work for YA audiences has been on Los Angeles Public Library's Best YA Fiction lists, and has won a Stonewall Book Award in 2010. Between these two powerful writers, the project couldn't have been in better hands.
The story of Mrs. Parks's lifetime of struggle against the racial prejudice she was subjected to routinely, and the sexism that all women were subjected to while she was growing up, makes for sobering reading. The fact that both of these issues remain prominent in 2022's US national conversations does not speak well of our ability, as a body politic, to learn from our errors and omissions of thinking.
One of the city’s first responses to the boycott was to portray the problem as the actions of a handful of “bad apple” bus drivers. Officials insisted the problem was not segregation but rude drivers. City leaders said they wished the Black community had approached them sooner with the problem so they could have disciplined these drivers. Of course, this wasn’t true at all. Black people had been highlighting bus segregation that entire year and even before then, and each time, they’d been ignored. But this way, the city was able to blame the issue on a few bad people rather than a rotten system.
Lie, cheat, obfuscate...then lie some more. After all, it doesn't matter if you tell lies when you're Right.
The major issues that Mrs. Parks drew attention to are still present in US society. It really bids fair to wrap one's soul in a fog of despair, sixty-seven years after this brave woman made a stand against being treated as less than, other than, another person simply because of her skin color, and we're facing the same issues over and over again. show less
This book really surprised me. I thought it would be much lighter than it was. Colbert is subtly serious - she tackles feminism, sexuality, mental illness, racism, and the intersectionality of all of the above. I loved that the characters were actually people and not stereotypes. And that they showed the reality of intersectionalism. Suzette is black AND Jewish AND bisexual, for example. Also, I loved how close Suzette and her brother Lionel are.
I really enjoyed this one. And I was still show more plumbing it for depths days later. show less
I really enjoyed this one. And I was still show more plumbing it for depths days later. show less
The story was very readable and tackled subjects for teens such as microaggressions, gender, and mental health. But maybe, too many for one book?
Some issues are treated with respect but then others are completely glossed over. The job does a good job of dealing with bipolar symptoms. There is talk of suicide but it is handled well and again informative. And I appreciated a scene where microaggressions are called out--that was completely informative. But then others--six kinds of tequila can show more appear at a party and jello shots are passed around with no consequences or questions. The teens are sexually active, but they seem to be going through the motions. The main character is working out her own gender/sexuality, but she felt a bit jaded already by the whole thing.
I read this because this book was tagged for banning in Texas schools. I decided to read a number of books on the list because I hate the idea of banning any books and loathe the idea that librarians and educators are not qualified to know which books should be available for teens. show less
Some issues are treated with respect but then others are completely glossed over. The job does a good job of dealing with bipolar symptoms. There is talk of suicide but it is handled well and again informative. And I appreciated a scene where microaggressions are called out--that was completely informative. But then others--six kinds of tequila can show more appear at a party and jello shots are passed around with no consequences or questions. The teens are sexually active, but they seem to be going through the motions. The main character is working out her own gender/sexuality, but she felt a bit jaded already by the whole thing.
I read this because this book was tagged for banning in Texas schools. I decided to read a number of books on the list because I hate the idea of banning any books and loathe the idea that librarians and educators are not qualified to know which books should be available for teens. show less
Suzette returns home from boarding school in Massachusetts with a secret: she had a relationship with her roommate, Iris, but thinks they might have broken up when their behind closed doors relationship was discovered by the other girls on their hall. Meanwhile, at home, her brother Lionel tells her a secret: he's going off his meds for bipolar disorder. Suzette is afraid of keeping his dangerous secret, but feels like she has to in order to regain his trust.
Suzette is also trying to figure show more out her own sexual identity - does she like girls, guys, both? She still has feelings for Iris, but also her longtime family friend Emil, and also a new friend, Rafaela - who Lionel falls for also. It's a tangle.
Little & Lion is practically a textbook on intersectionality and identity, but it doesn't read like a textbook at all; it's a great work of realistic YA fiction, featuring a protagonist who is trying to do her best by everyone as she figures out who she is.
Quotes
"That's the part that sucks. When you feel bad for telling someone they were wrong." (Suzette to Emil, after someone made a racist comment to them in the pool, 113)
I don't want her to think I'm judging her, because I'm not. It's easy to think you know what you'd do if you were in a certain position until you find yourself there, feeling completely lost. (190)
"But I feel like I should know what to call myself."
"Why? Bi, queer...it doesn't really matter, as long as you're happy. Just make sure you don't let anyone tell you what you are. People can be real assholes about labels." (Rafaela to Suzette, 193)
...so many of the same people who are quick to empathize with physical disabilities don't understand why someone with depression can't just get up and get on with their day like the rest of the world. It's like they need a receipt that proves someone is actually going through some shit before they finally care about them. (Suzette and Lionel, 205)
The flip side of loyalty is betrayal. (232) show less
Suzette is also trying to figure show more out her own sexual identity - does she like girls, guys, both? She still has feelings for Iris, but also her longtime family friend Emil, and also a new friend, Rafaela - who Lionel falls for also. It's a tangle.
Little & Lion is practically a textbook on intersectionality and identity, but it doesn't read like a textbook at all; it's a great work of realistic YA fiction, featuring a protagonist who is trying to do her best by everyone as she figures out who she is.
Quotes
"That's the part that sucks. When you feel bad for telling someone they were wrong." (Suzette to Emil, after someone made a racist comment to them in the pool, 113)
I don't want her to think I'm judging her, because I'm not. It's easy to think you know what you'd do if you were in a certain position until you find yourself there, feeling completely lost. (190)
"But I feel like I should know what to call myself."
"Why? Bi, queer...it doesn't really matter, as long as you're happy. Just make sure you don't let anyone tell you what you are. People can be real assholes about labels." (Rafaela to Suzette, 193)
...so many of the same people who are quick to empathize with physical disabilities don't understand why someone with depression can't just get up and get on with their day like the rest of the world. It's like they need a receipt that proves someone is actually going through some shit before they finally care about them. (Suzette and Lionel, 205)
The flip side of loyalty is betrayal. (232) show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 13
- Also by
- 7
- Members
- 2,325
- Popularity
- #11,035
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 95
- ISBNs
- 95
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1