Sundee Frazier has written a book that I’m excited to read to my kids. We’re going to have some great conversations! Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It is about 10 year-old, bi-racial Brendan Buckley’s experiences when he meets his estranged white grandfather. Brendan’s mother is white and his father is black, and black and white are complimentary colors in Brendan’s world. Brendan’s life is largely unproblematic until he discovers a deeply hidden family secret involving his white grandfather.

Brendan is a born scientist (which is very cool. He taught me stuff I didn’t know about rocks, minerals…and he threw in some Tae Kwon Do, as well!), so once he’s discovered the family secret, he has to know more. When he looks for evidence of the problems in his family, he has complete confidence that he will be able to draw logical conclusions from the facts. But racism (and its effects) is a wily foe, and using the scientific method to understand it doesn’t work out quite the way Brendan expects.

I won’t give away the whole story here–you’ve got to read it yourself! But I think the thing I like the most about the book is that it shows how racism wounds all families–black, white, and biracial alike.