Genesis Begins Again ~ Alicia D. Williams
The happy tears are still flowing as I write this post, and I’m not sure my words will ever be able to adequately capture the raw power and beauty of this novel. So before I even try, I will just say: you need this novel. Your students need this novel.
As the Amazon review states, Genesis Begins Again, is “reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye,” in that the protagonist of this novel, thirteen-year-old Genesis Anderson, hates herself. She lives her life trying to drown out the many voices, including her father’s and grandmother’s, that tell her she is too black, too ugly, and too poor. And like so many adolescents, rather than fighting hard to accept herself, Genesis becomes determined to change.
After being thrown out of apartment after apartment in Detroit when her Dad, each time, fails to pay the rent, things seem to finally be getting better when her family moves into a fancy home in Farmington Hills, a suburb of the city. Once again, Genesis becomes the new kid at school and tries to navigate the social traps of any middle school. Fortunately, Genesis meets Sophie and Troy--true friends. But even they cannot help her understand that who she is matters. Because every time she begins to love herself, the drunken and angry words of her father return, and Genesis becomes more determined to be a daughter her dad will finally love.
Genesis goes to extreme, and dangerous lengths, to change her skin color believing that when she does, she will finally be someone deserving of love. Whether your students can relate to Genesis in these exact feelings, or feel for a different reason that if they, too, changed just one thing about themselves they would be worthy, this book will teach them what self-love truly means.
Maturity: 2/4
This novel is appropriate for grades 6-8. In the novel, however, Genesis’ dad has a drinking problem, and there are multiple scenes of him drunk and angry. However, there is no violence.
Pages: 384
Lexile: 670L
Lexile is a score that helps educators and parents match students with an appropriate text. A Lexile score is a measure of both a child’s reading ability and a text difficulty. However, Lexile does not take into account the content of a novel. So, pairing readers with a text is a complex process, and knowledge of a novel’s themes and plot is necessary to make a high-quality recommendation.
If you are curious about the grade-level equivalent to Lexile scores, check out the conversion chart here!
Happy Reading!
♥ Kara & Riley
