Finding My Place [Hardcover]

Traci L. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2010

DOES FITTING IN HAVE TO MEAN SELLING OUT?

 

In October 1975, while most teens are worried about their Happy Days Halloween costumes,
Tiphanie Jayne Baker has bigger problems. Her parents have just decided to uproot the family to the ritzy suburb of Brent Hills, Colorado, and now she’s the only Black girl at a high school full of Barbies. But the longer Tiphanie stays in her new neighborhood, the more her ties to her old community start to fray. Now that nowhere feels like home, exactly where does she belong?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–9—Tiphanie Baker respects her parents' participation in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and lives up to their expectations, which include always "uplifting her race" by working extra hard and by following the rules. But when she finds out that she must start her freshman year as the only black girl at an affluent, predominantly white school, she wonders if she has the strength. Set in Denver in 1975, the book portrays the mood and perceptions of the time. People of differing ethnicities and races are still becoming accustomed to living, working, and going to school together, as demonstrated by the awkwardness and uncertainty with which Tiphanie and her fellow students regard each other. The issues of class and racial identity are exacerbated when Tiphanie, who is working through her own feelings of isolation and uncertainty, befriends a white girl who is ostracized because she is poor and lives in a trailer park. As the protagonist starts to feel more comfortable and accepted by her classmates, she struggles with the idea that by liking them she is not being true to her former friends, who begin to question her commitment. The story, with its accurate portrayal of the period and realistic depictions of friendships and family issues, is interesting and enjoyable. The well-developed characters confront their own stereotypes and perceptions of race, learning something about one another and about themselves.—Margaret Auguste, Franklin Middle School, Somerset, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Instead of the typical speech most kids get on their first day of school, Tiphanie receives the “talented tenth” lecture. Her parents, veterans of the civil rights movement, remind her that DuBois was speaking specifically about her, and she must “uphold the race” while attending her predominantly white high school, even now, in 1975. Tiphanie is refreshingly witty and open-minded. She begins her freshman year seeing racism everywhere but quickly recognizes the fault in that viewpoint and starts to engage with the other kids. That's not to say that no one is racist, but for the most part, her classmates are curious and kind. She makes friends with Jackie Sue, a poor white hippie chick and fellow outsider. But her new bestie has a secret, and Tiphanie wonders if keeping it is in her best interest. Jones handles the intricacies of race relations splendidly and excels in the frankness of her prose, which is devoid of the ham-fisted, chip-on-the-shoulder tone that other books of this nature often default to. This immediate, engaging novel will appeal to readers of all backgrounds. Grades 5-8. --Courtney Jones

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (May 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374335737
• ISBN-13: 978-0374335731
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Oreo Season, July 29, 2011

By 

Katrina L. Burchett "Author of Young Adult Fi... (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Finding My Place (Hardcover)

Tiphanie Jayne Baker's parents move her from her home in Denver to a suburb in Brent Hills, Colorado. She no longer lives around the black kids she's known all of her life. This ninth grader is now the only black girl and one of only two black students at Brent Hills High. She isn't sure who her friends are or if those she thought were her friends really were. Where does she fit in?

Tiphanie: She had to deal with difficult classmates (one in particular), assumptions about black people, and uncomfortable situations, but she was a strong girl.

Jackie Sue: It seemed her large vocabulary gave her the confidence she needed around those who thought so little of her. Knowing so many different words made her feel like there was at least one thing about her that made her as important as anybody else. If she had a more loving mother, maybe she wouldn't have felt so less than.

Mae (Jackie Sue's mother): She was hanging on to her accomplishments of the past and blaming her daughter for her problems in the present. I wasn't happy with her.

Morris and Annie Baker (Tiphanie's Parents): It's a lot of pressure for any black person to be expected to be an example for the whole African American race, but that was what these parents expected of their young daughter. It was great that Mr. and Mrs. Baker worked hard to get ahead in the world, but for people who believed others were against them because of the color of their skin (and I'm sure many were) they had their own racist, uppity attitudes. They move their child to a place where she had to go to a predominately white school, but then Mrs. Baker has a problem with her daughter having a white friend? Or would she have been okay with Jackie if she didn't consider her mom white trash? No matter what skin color, we all have issues.

This was a good, thought-provoking read. I had mixed feelings about the choice Jackie Sue made in the end.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars recommended story of a black girl trying to fit in at an almost all-white high school in 1975, June 8, 2010

By 

M. Tanenbaum (Claremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Finding My Place (Hardcover)

In 1975, Tiphanie (pronounced Tiffany!) has more to worry about than what to wear on the first day of school. Tiphanie's family has just moved from a largely minority neighborhood in Denver to an expensive suburb, where she is the only black girl at her new high school. Tiphanie narrates the story, and her chapters are interspersed with lectures from her upper-middle class parents, such as "The Talented Tenth Lecture," where they remind her that she has to work twice as hard as her white classmates, or "The company you keep lecture," where they remind her that her friends are a reflection on her. When no one wants to talk to Tiphanie at school except another social outcast, Jackie Sue, who grandly refers to herself as "walking talking trailer trash," the two of them decide to form the Oreo squad, a new group among the high school cliques.

But when Jackie Sue won't defend Tiphanie against racial slurs by another classmate, Tiphanie's not sure what kind of friend Jackie Sue really is. Jackie Sue seems to have a lot of secrets, ones that she can't or won't share with Tiphanie. Moreover, Tiphanie's not sure how she fits in anymore-- her friends from the old neighborhood warn her not to start turning her back on her people by hanging around too many white kids. Her parents, on the other hand, are anxious for her to make friends with "young ladies from better circumstances," such as the black kids from Booker and Breeze, a social and civic organization for well-to-do black families.

In this novel, Traci Jones examines serious issues of prejudice with a terrific sense of humor--I laughed out loud at numerous places in the novel. She explores overt prejudice against blacks--such as the biased math teacher who doesn't believe that black children belong in her honors math class, or Tiphanie's classmate Clay, who makes blatantly racist remarks, but also more subtle types of prejudice, such as Jackie Sue thinking that Tiphanie will want to date the only black boy at their high school, just because they're the same race. She also incorporates prejudice of an economic type; for example, Tiphanie's parents don't want her to socialize with Jackie Sue because she comes from "trailer trash."

I found Finding My Place to be a very enjoyable story. While it is likely to appeal more to girls than boys, it's a story that can appeal to kids of any ethnic background, since its exploration of friendship, adapting to a new environment, and overcoming various forms of prejudice should be of interest to any teen or tween. This would be an excellent novel to purchase for school and public libraries, as well as for summer reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Read, December 29, 2011

By 

R.D. (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finding My Place (Hardcover)

I have been reading my way through Traci L. Jones' books since discovering what an excellent writer she is. "Finding My Place" is another compelling work by the author that resonates with me, having grown up during the same period as the main character and having faced many of the same issues. Jones brings a realistic and powerful perspective to the experiences of trying to fit in in high school when one is isolated racially or by class. This would be an excellent book for class discussion about themes of racism, racial identity development, class, peer accountability, and more.