This simple story celebrates how the differences between one mother and father blend to make the perfect combination in their daughter. As this little family moves through the world, the girl notes some of the ways that her parents are different from each other, and how she is different from both of them. With each difference she lists, she… - (Albert Whitman & Co)
This simple story celebrates how the differences between one mother and father blend to make the perfect combination in their daughter. As this little family moves through the world, the girl notes some of the ways that her parents are different from each other, and how she is different from both of them. With each difference she lists, she highlights the ways that their individual characteristics join together to make her family. The fact that her mother is African American and her father is white is just one of the many interesting things that make this little girl and her family “just right.” - (Albert Whitman & Co)
The middle way is the best way for the daughter of a black mother and a white father, the way between her mother's predilection for vegetables, ballet, and fast walks and her father's taste for ribs, rap, and dawdling. - (Baker & Taylor)
The middle way is the best way for the daughter of a Black mother and a white father, the way between her mother's predilection for vegetables, ballet, and fast walks, and her father's taste for ribs, rap, and dawdling - (Baker & Taylor)
This simple story celebrates how the differences between one mother and father blend to make the perfect combination in their daughter. As this little family moves through the world, the girl notes some of the ways that her parents are different from each other, and how she is different from both of them. With each difference she lists, she highlights the ways that their individual characteristics join together to make her family. The fact that her mother is African American and her father is white is just one of the many interesting things that make this little girl and her family &;just right.&;
- (
Independent Publishing Group)
Horn Book Guide Reviews
A biracial girl explains the differences between her parents and her own ""just right"" mixture of the two of them, as it pertains to appearance and interests. Biracial readers may identify with the specific examples given, while all young children can relate to inheriting characteristics from their parents. The text varies from prose to a rhyme that can be followed; throughout both, the refrain ""just right"" consistently rings. Copyright 1998 Horn Book Guide Reviews
Publishers Weekly Reviews
More a concept book than a story, this work is narrated by the daughter of an interracial marriage. In free verse, the bubbly, confident girl describes her African American mother's face as ``chestnut brown. / Her dark brown eyes are bright as bees.'' Her father, on the other hand, ``turns pink in the sun; / his blue eyes squinch up when he smiles. My face? I look like both of them-- / a little dark, a litte light. Mama and Papa say, `Just right!' '' The girl then describes her parents' different preferences in music, art and food, and the idiosyncrasies that make each family member an individual. The energetic brush strokes of Trivas's ( Annie . . . Anya! ) bright gouache illustrations heighten the sense of a world beautified through a blend of colors, while her compositions warmly depict the affection and positive self-image exuded both by the child and by her parents. Though Davol doesn't address the difficulties some children of an interracial marriage may experience outside the accepting realm of family, the book's upbeat tone is welcoming and refreshing. By moving beyond physical differences, Davol successfully shows how families are composed of distinct individuals whose love is the key to securing a child's sense of self. Ages 6-8. (Oct.) Copyright 1993 Cahners Business Information.
