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Genesis Begins
Again
by Alicia D. Williams
c.2019, Atheneum Books for Young Readers
$17.99 / $23.99 Canada
384 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
Leave me alone.
That’s what you’d like to tell just about everybody right
now: go away. Stop talking to me. Don’t fuss, quit fighting,
put away those bad words. You’re done, so leave me alone. As
in the new book Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D.
Williams, life is much easier if you don’t rely too much
on people who hurt you.
The Mean Girls at her old school were dumb.
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Thirteen-year-old Genesis Anderson had proof: the list they
circulated was titled “100 REASONS WHY WE HATE GENESIS” but
only 60 things were on the list and some were totally lame.
Whatever. Every now and then, Genesis added her own entries
to the list.
She hated that she let Mean Girls get away with being mean.
She hated herself because her Dad drank too much and gambled
with rent-paying money, so her family moved a lot. She hated
having to stay with her Grandma, however temporary it was
each time. Most of all, she hated her dark skin and her
tangly-thick curls, and that she didn’t inherit her mother’s
coffee-with-milk complexion and “good hair.”
She could’ve added that she hated having fake friends but,
after yet another publicly humiliating home eviction, more
promises from Dad, and an upgraded rental, she’d first see
if a new school and another fresh start made any difference.
Thankfully, as it turned out, things weren’t bad at
Farmington Oaks Middle School, just outside Detroit. In the
beginning, Genesis kept to herself because there were Mean
Girls there, too, but she was happy to see that most of the
kids were nice. She began to make real friends, and
she found her first BFF. She even liked her teachers,
including the one who encouraged her talents as a singer.
But none of these positives changed Genesis’s view of
herself as “ugly.” Dark skin, “nappy” hair, there had to be
a way to fix it. Once she learned the secrets in her family,
past and present, there was just no way she could accept
herself as she was…
Starting with an awkward situation with frenemies, author
Alicia D. Williams introduces nine-to-13-year-olds to an
observant, smart-but-typical kid with modern problems,
including a kind of racism that’s not often discussed. What
ultimately happens is a shocker to the story, in part
because we’re abruptly told the truth about some of the
adults in Genesis’ life and though it explains a lot, it’s
not pretty. We learn of this ugliness when she does,
presenting an opportunity for readers to think about (and
deal with) topics that might be new or uncomfortable.
Happily, it’s all done with the barest, mildest profanity
and absolutely zero unnecessary drama. Also nice for both
you, and for your young reader: the friends Genesis makes
are real-life-real, and adults in this book are portrayed
without a hint of malice or ridicule.
For a middle-schooler, this book set in a middle-schooler’s
life is perfect, especially if their life isn’t. Hand your
child Genesis Begins Again, and she won’t be able to
leave it alone.
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