Reason read; ROOT, TIOLI challenge
This is another free summer read program book from AudioFile Sync; young adult, coming of age. It explores issues of young people not liking who they are and praying that God would make them different; pretty, nice hair, skinny or even white. ( )

LaToya Williams lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and attends a mostly white high school. It seems as if her only friend is her older brother, Alex. Toya doesn't know where she fits in, but after a run-in with another student, she wonders if life would be different if she were...different. And then a higher power answers her prayer: to be "anything but black".

Toya is suddenly white, blond, and popular. Now what?

Randi Pink's audacious fiction debut dares to explore a subject that will spark conversations about race, class, and gender. ( )

Adenrele Ojo does an excellent job as the audiobook narrator for Into White by Randi Pink. A realistic fantasy for young adults about a teenager, unhappy with her life, who when she prays to Jesus to be “anything but black" is granted her wish by Jesus, who appears to her complete with robe and sandals. Toya learns difficult lessons about herself, her loving but imperfect family, and her classmates over the course of a few days as a white exchange student at her high school. ( )

Into White is a book about the south and being black. It's realistic fiction with a supernatural twist thrown in.

LaToya Williams attends a mostly white school and she is black. Her life offers her many challenges, in her opinion. Her father and mother argue constantly, but it's amusing--at least to the reader! They sometimes make ends meet financially. They have a big house on the "right" side of town, but they can't afford to put anything in it and the car barely runs. They buy everything second-hand. At school, LaToya is treated as the lowest in the social order; even below most of the black students. Her brother, Alex, is her best friend. He takes care of her and worries about her. They rely on each other. He worries about LaToya because she is made fun of and she also seems fine failing classes. She struggles with school. Their parents don't make them attend, but Alex often insists they do and he checks on LaToya to make sure she's done her homework.

After a particularly humiliating experience, LaToya cries out to Jesus to make her white. She wakes up blonde, blue-eyed, and lily-white. Ask and ye shall receive! Life is completely different! Her family see her the same, but others see a white girl. Alex and LaToya determine she'll be Katerina, an exchange student, from Kansas.There are so many amusing parts to this novel, but learning the geography of Kansas for everyone is funny. Katerina garners immediate popularity because she is beautiful! She navigates the world of popularity with some mean girls, finds out how the "system" really works for people with power, and decides to balance the scales out and bring justice to those who are always above the law. You'll even chuckle along the way.

Obviously, this novel requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief. Jesus talks to LaToya, makes her white, and "borrows" a car.. That she attends school without proof of identity is also unbelievable. Just go with it. I loved the book, but I have studied the south for years from a literature standpoint. Thankfully, my brother lived in the south for 25 years, so I spent a week every summer hanging out in the south. It is a different culture and most people have made judgements and assumptions about what it means to be southern and what society is like. Gotta live there to know there! This novel shows how people are treated based on color and based on looks. LaToya can only learn about herself through an experience--she wouldn't believe just by being told or by learning. Jesus gives her this chance to find herself and be comfortable in her own skin, relying on herself and not always leaning on her brother. It's a journey from ignorance to knowledge for LaToya, Alex, Devonte (I listened to the book, so I may have misspelled his name), and her parents. You'll laugh and you'll cringe, but you'll have a good time. Praise Jesus! ( )

The premise of the book is interesting, but in trying to discuss the complex experience of race and gender and socio-economics in the modern South, the author perpetuates some dangerous stereotypes. Would make for an interesting book club selection, since people will likely feel passionate about the subject matter and have opinions about whether it was handled skillfully. ( )