Brandy Colbert

Award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert's debut middle-grade novel about the only two black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past -- now in paperback! Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta's best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can't understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her. Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living. When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie's attic, they team up to figure out exactly who's behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.

The Only Black Girls in Town

Award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert's debut middle-grade novel about the only two black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past. Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta's best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can't understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her. Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living. When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie's attic, they team up to figure out exactly who's behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.

Sarah Sammis

The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert is set in fictional Ewing Beach California. It was supposed to a Black beach town but as of the start of the novel, Alberta, Al to her friends, is the only Black girl in her school. That is until the B&B across the street is sold to a Black family.

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Mahalia Lockhart 

** spoiler alert **
           I really enjoyed this book! First of all, Elliott and Kadeem are like the sweetest dads ever and I'm glad that Alberta has a good relationship with Denise even though that's just her surrogate mother. Edie and Ms. Whitman were great characters as well and reading Constance's journals were very intriguing because it talked about how she was passing for white which a lot of people have done over the years. Nicolette McKee was so infuriating, but I'm glad Alberta stood up for herself after all these years. Overall it was a great book and I can't wait to read more from Brandy Colbert!! 🖤🖤

Jeni Enjaian

Colbert included a lot of classic tropes for a contemporary middle grades novel. Every time one of these tropes came up, I unconsciously braced myself to read the same thing I always read in books like this. Colbert, however, took those tropes and surprised me. She let them play out how they might actually play out, all except the mean girl trope that she used with the one bully who never really learns anything throughout the narrative. She also placed obvious realities of microaggressions and colorist in the novel in realistic ways. Since this is a novel targeted at middle grades students, I somewhat understand why she put those realities in there but did not make them the center of attention. They will draw a reader's attention but will not become the overall focus. However, as a middle school teacher, I know that my students can handle a more obvious discussion of these topics which could be used as a teaching moment, showing how the characters learn and grow from how they perceive these micro- (and not so micro) -agressions.
Overall though, I think Colbert did an excellent job with this book.

The Only Black Girls in Town

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