Caucasia Part 1

November 16, 2009 kdermody7

I thought the start of this book was very interesting. The reader is introduced to the family and gains a little bit of information about each one. I think this book goes in a different direction than some other books dealing with race issues which is interesting. In most books we tend to read about how dark skin is the “unacceptable” color, but in this text it is about the lighter color skin that serves a problem for the character. Birdie is the lighter skin daughter and Cole is the darker skin daughter. I feel so bad for Birdie. At such a young age she must deal with racial issues. She feels her sister Cole is the favorite in the family because she is much darker than Birdie and can relate to her father’s side better. Birdie is taunted in school because she is not as dark as the other girls and has straight hair. I think her parents really need to explain to Birdie that she doesnt need to choose one side, she can embrace both her black and white side and identify with both, but that is hard when your father is constantly standing by “black power” and the mother is sticking to her “white” roots. Birdie feels caught in the middle and doesn’t know which side to identify with.