Sundee T. Frazier

Inheriting genes from multi-racial parents that render one sister white and the other black, twins Minerva and Keira find their close relationship tested by a visit to their biased grandmother's house in the south, where they compete against each other in a pre-teen pageant.

The Other Half of My Heart

Cleopatra Edison Oliver has a brand new business: Passion Clips. She and her best friend Caylee are going to take the world by storm with their personalized barrettes. All they need now is their big break. So when successful businesswoman Fortune A. Davies announces a new website where "kidpreneurs" can upload ads for their businesses, Cleo invites all of her customers to film an ad for FortuneTube. But making a commercial is different from running a business, and when Cleo's customers get fed up with her direction, she might lose her friends and her chance to shine. Meanwhile, Cleo is more and more certain that she wants to meet her birth parents -- but she's starting to wonder if they will ever want to meet her. Can she win back her friends, take her business to the next level, and find the family she's been looking for?

Cleo Edison Oliver in Persuasion Power

A multiracial, capitalist tale that's equal parts The Lemonade War and Encyclopedia Brown. Cleopatra Edison Oliver has always been an entrepreneur, just like her inspiration, successful businesswoman Fortune A. Davies. So when Cleo's fifth-grade teacher assigns her class a "Passion Project," Cleo comes up with her best business idea yet: the finest "tooth-pulling" company in town. With the help of her best friend Caylee, a Nerf gun, her dad's tablet, and her patented Persuasion Power, Cleo's Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service starts to take off. But even the best made plans, by the best CEOs, go awry sometimes. A minor barfing incident during a tooth-pulling operation causes Cleo to lose customers. Caylee, initially enthusiastic about the business, grows distant as Cleo neglects their friendship in lieu of getting more customers. And when a mean classmate makes fun of Cleo for being adopted, everything comes crashing down. Will she be able to rescue her business, salvage her friendship with Caylee, and discover that her true home has been here all along?

Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

Cleopatra Edison Oliver has always been an entrepreneur, just like her inspiration, successful businesswoman Fortune A. Davies. So when Cleo's fifth-grade teacher assigns her class a "Passion Project," Cleo comes up with her best business idea yet: the finest "tooth-pulling" company in town. With the help of her best friend Caylee, a Nerf gun, her dad's tablet, and her patented Persuasion Power, Cleo's Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service starts to take off. But even the best made plans, by the best CEOs, go awry sometimes. A minor barfing incident during a tooth-pulling operation causes Cleo to lose customers. Caylee, initially enthusiastic about the business, grows distant as Cleo neglects their friendship in lieu of getting more customers. And when a mean classmate makes fun of Cleo for being adopted, everything comes crashing down. Will she be able to rescue her business, salvage her friendship with Caylee, and discover that her true home has been here all along?

Twin daughters of interracial parents, Keira and Minna have very different skin tones, but it is not until their grandmother enters them in a beauty contest that Minna realizes what life has been like for her more darker-skinned sister.

Winner of the Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe New Talent Award, this acclaimed, multicultural book about a biracial boy with a passion for science will resonate with children everywhere who can’t—or won’t—be defined by categories. Ten-year-old Brendan Buckley is a self-declared scientist: asking questions and looking for answers, but most of all struggling against the overprotective behavior of his parents. Up until now, he has never even met his grandfather—the grandfather his mother won’t even speak of. A chance encounter brings Brendan and his grandfather together where Brendan initiates a relationship with estranged grandfather, Ed DeBose. While they share a passion for geology, they do not share the color of their skin; Brendan’s skin is brown, not pink like Ed DeBose’s. Pretty soon, Brendan sets out to uncover the reason behind Ed’s absence but soon discovers that family secrets can’t be explained by science. A winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, this is a novel about a boy learning about race relations and what it means to be a family. An NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year "Frazier writes affectingly about what being biracial means in twenty-first century America." —School Library Journal "Brendan is an appealing character with a sense of honor. . . . A good, accessible selection to inspire discussion of racism and prejudice." —Kirkus Reviews "Frazier delivers her messages without using an overly heavy hand. Brendan is a real kid with a passion for science and also a willingness to push his parents' rules." —Booklist

Sundee T. Frazier

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