As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(2)
YA
Set in a township in contemporary South Africa, this story revolves around a society still grappling with the effects of a post-apartheid reality. Amandla has never met her father, who is Black. On her fifteenth birthday, her mentally unstable white mother comes home from a trip insisting that if Amandla wears a homemade dress in his favorite color, he will return. The teen is used to her mother's often strange and secretive behavior, but this time she decides to look for answers to her many questions, especially surrounding her father. After finding a large amount of money and an unknown address hidden in her mother's purse, she and her friends become unlikely sleuths, unraveling a mystery that is at the core of Amandla's identity. As the mystery concerning her family tree is gradually revealed, so too is the history of a country that all too recently would have considered her very existence to be illegal. The excitement of the mystery; the memorable cast of characters, particularly the female characters; and the many twists and turns of the plot keep the pages turning until the very end.
Reviewer: Monique Harris
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2021