"Am I black or white or am I American?" "Why don't my eyes look like yours?" "Why do people always call attention to my 'different' hair?" Helping a child understand his mixed racial background can be daunting, especially when, whether out of honest appreciation or mean-spiritedness, peers and strangers alike perceive their features to be "other." Drawing on psychological research and input from over fifty multiracial families, Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? addresses the special questions and concerns facing these families, explaining how we can best prepare multiracial children of all ages to make their way confidently in our color-conscious world. From the books and toys to use in play with young children, to advice on guiding older children toward an unflappable sense of self, Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? is the first book to outline for parents how, exactly, to deflect the objectifying attention multiracial children receive. Full of powerful stories and counsel, it is sure to become the book adoptive and birth parents of different races alike will look to for understanding as they strive to raise their children in a changing world.
Donna Jackson Nakazawa
Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning science journalist and public speaker. In her newest book, The Last Best Cure (Hudson Street, February 2013), she chronicles her year-long journey investigating the groundbreaking neuroscience on how mind-body therapies such as meditation, yoga and acupuncture awaken the healing potential of our brains, change our biology, and revitalize our cells and our health.
Along the way, Nakazawa unveils a little known branch of research showing the profound link between "adverse childhood experiences" and chronic illness in adulthood; a discovery that helps to turn her own life around. Critics call Nakazawa's "story-telling art" "masterful" and The Last Best Cure "a genuine page-turning science/non-fiction thriller;" a book that will not only "change lives; it may even save some."
She is also the author of The Autoimmune Epidemic (Touchstone/Simon and Schuster, 2008, 2009), an investigation into the reasons behind today's rising rates of autoimmune and related diseases. In The Autoimmune Epidemic, Nakazawa lays out the mounting evidence showing how our modern lifestyles, stress levels, chemical-laden environment and twenty-first century diet have created the ripest possible conditions for today's autoimmune epidemic to take hold.
Ms. Nakazawa lectures nationwide and has keynoted numerous events including the 2012 International Congress on Autoimmunity; Johns Hopkins Annual Women's Health Conference, "A Woman's Journey;" and New York's 92nd Street Y's To Your Health Lecture Series. She has also moderated panels for national symposiums including the American Association of Autoimmune and Related Diseases (AARDA) 2010 Summit.
She is also the author of Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent's Guide to Raising Multiracial Children (Perseus 2003), as well as a contributor to the Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Library book, Integrative Gastroenterology, (Oxford University Press, April 2010).
Ms. Nakazawa has appeared on The Today Show, National Public Radio, and ABC News. Her work has been featured on the cover of Parade, in Time, USA Today Weekend, Parenting, and Psychology Today. She has been a regular contributor to More, and her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, and AARP the Magazine.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2012 AESKU award, presented to those who have made a lifetime contribution to the field of autoimmune disease, and the 2010 National Health Information Award, recognizing the nation's best magazine articles in health.
Ms. Nakazawa has received writing in residence fellowships from the Corporation of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Public Policy from Duke University and is a graduate of the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Program.
