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    The Other Half of My Heart
    Unavailable
    The Other Half of My Heart
    Unavailable
    The Other Half of My Heart
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Other Half of My Heart

    Written by Sundee T. Frazier

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The story of biracial twin sisters-one black, one white-and the summer that tests their strong bond, from the author of Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award-winner Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It.

    When Minerva and Keira King were born, they made headlines: Keira is black like Mama, but Minni is white like Daddy. Together the family might look like part of a chessboard row, but they are first and foremost the close-knit Kings. Then Grandmother Johnson calls, to invite the twins down South to compete for the title of Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America.

    Minni dreads the spotlight, but Keira assures her that together they'll get through their stay with Grandmother Johnson. But when their grandmother's bias against Keira reveals itself, Keira pulls away from her twin. Minni has always believed that no matter how different she and Keira are, they share a deep bond of the heart. Now she'll find out whether that's really true.

    Winner of the Skipping Stone Honor Award

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 14, 2011
    ISBN9780307879622
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Other Half of My Heart

    3.5/5

    44 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Twin 11-year old girls from a multi-racial family don't look physically alike and get different reactions/treatment from the public based upon their outward appearances. They each have strengths and weaknesses and they stick together, supporting each other. A 10-day trip away from their home in the Pacific Northwest to visit their distant (and domineering) maternal grandmother in the South, in Raleigh, North Carolina, provides family history, hilarity and culture shock. Excellent lessons on loving yourself and accepting others.
    • 3/5
      Biracial twin sisters Keira and Minerva don't look anything alike. Keira is dark-skinned like her African-American mother and Minnie has blue eyes and light skin like her white father. Growing up in a small Washington State town, Keira is the one who always feels different and sometimes wrong. But when their grandmother insists on entering both girls in the Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America program in her hometown of Raleigh, NC, Minnie will discover what it's like to be the one who doesn't fit in. And seeing the world from Keira's eyes will help her find the voice she so desperately wants to shout down injustice. I love the premise, but the story fell a little flat for me. I felt like it was slow going at the beginning without many opportunities for Bahni Turpin's excellent narration to shine. When the twins arrived in Raleigh, Turpin's voice for Grandmother Johnson brought me back into the story and that's what I liked best about the whole book. It slowed down for me again at the end when Grandmother Johnson wasn't as prevalent. And I think that shows you what I thought of the book overall, that even with this fabulous premise, the most interesting character was an adult.
    • 5/5
      Minnie and Keira are twins. They were born only seven minutes apart. However, Minni was born with reddish blond hair and white skin like her daddy. Keira was born with "cinnamon-brown" skin and dark curly hair like her mother. The girls are sent from Washington to North Caroline to visit their grandmother. She has entered them in the Miss Black Pear contest. For the first time, Keira feels like she fits in. Minni suddenly feels like she doesn't belong as they question whether she qualifies to be in the contest. This is a story that shows the struggle of being accepted for who you are no matter what your color. It also show how strong the bonds between sisters and especially twins are. This was an excellent book.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Bahni Turpin. Minnie and Kira are twin daughters of a black mother and white father. But they look nothing alike: Kira has her mother’s coloring while Minnie is red-haired and fair-skinned. People often think Minnie and Kira are friends, not sisters. Now their black Grandmother Johnson insists they come to North Carolina to participate in the Black Pearls Pre-Teen Pageant. Minnie worries about how she will be received by pageant officials and the other participating girls. Minnie's angst about her mixed-race identity gets heavy-handed treatment. But I did enjoy the earnest voice Turpin gave to Minnie's story.
    • 4/5
      This was a lovely look at identity and exploration of self. Minnie and Kiera King are twins, and are also biracial. However, Minnie is incredibly light, while Kiera is much darker. In this gentle and funny novel, Frazier takes on large concepts in a tween-friendly way. I'd recommend this to anyone struggling to define themselves, especially regarding heritage.
    • 3/5
      Sundee Frasier did a wonderful job of developing the characters of Grandma Johnson, Kiera and Minni. This was a pretty tough topic to cover and she did it well.
      The story is about twins who have a white father and a black mother. The twins are born 7 minutes apart and Minni looks white and Kiera, black.Minni inisits she is black too even though she has silky red hair and fair skin. Living in Washington State Kiera often feels left out because she is black in a white world. When they go visit Grandma Johnson in Raleigh NC and compete in a pre-teen Black Pageant or excuse me, Program, suddenly Minni is the one who fells left out or different. I recommend this Middle School book.
    • 3/5
      (from July 2010 SLJ)
      Eleven-year-old twins Keira and Minni are used to the funny looks their “chessboard family” receives: Keira takes after their black mother and Minni takes after their white father. In spite of their differences in appearance and personality, the girls share a bond that they are convinced cannot be broken. When their maternal grandmother invites them to fly from their coastal Washington town to North Carolina so that she can enroll them in the Miss Black Pearl of America Program, their artistic mother is hesitant: she has issues with her overbearing, social-climbing parent. However, Mama competed in the program herself when she was growing up, and finally agrees that the twins should have the experience as well. Keira is ecstatic about the idea of entering a “pageant,” but introverted Minni is not looking forward to the experience. Her reservations seem well-founded when they arrive: Grandmother Johnson is just as persnickety as ever, and the Black Pearl’s president questions whether Minni qualifies to participate in this program intended for black girls. Ironically, their grandmother seems ambivalent about her own dark skin, and encourages Keira to straighten her hair and to use sunscreen to prevent further darkening. The ten days the girls spend with Grandmother Johnson, preparing for and competing in the program, are not easy ones: Minni learns what it feels like to be the odd person out in terms of appearance, and Keira is resentful that up until now, Minni really hasn’t understood what she was going through in their all-white Seattle suburb. But both girls grow in the process, and learn a few things about their grandmother’s own struggle to be seen as an equal by the white community. As she did in Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It (2007), Frazier addresses issues faced by mixed-race children with a grace and humor that keep her tone from being pedantic. Minni’s and Keira’s story is enjoyable in its own right, and will encourage readers to rethink racial boundaries and what it means to be “black” or “white” in America.
    • 3/5
      For me, this novel captured what it feels like to live in a biracial family. There is, in a sense, a societal demand to “choose” to identify yourself as one race. The scene where the two sisters are treated differently when dress shopping hit home for me.
    • 5/5
      Description:The close relationship of a pair of biracial twins is tested when their grandmother enters them in a pageant for African American girls in this new story from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner Sundee T. Frazier.
 
When Minerva and Keira King were born, they made headlines: Keira is black like Mama, but Minni is white like Daddy. Together the family might look like part of a chessboard row, but they are first and foremost the close-knit Kings. Then Grandmother Johnson calls, to invite the twins down South to compete for the title of Miss Black Pearl Preteen of America. 
 
Minni dreads the spotlight, but Keira assures her that together they'll get through their stay with Grandmother Johnson. But when grandmother's bias against Keira reveals itself, Keira pulls away from her twin. Minni has always believed that no matter how different she and Keira are, they share a deep bond of the heart. Now she'll find out the truth.I truly enjoyed this book. It is one of those books that I would recommend to my 5th graders as well as to teens and adults. This contemporary book is a serious look at racial issues (and for those who may think we have moved beyond those issues, this book will make you rethink that). It also has many light hearted moments. Grandmother Johnson provides quite a bit of comic relief.Two things could have made this book better. One is a better cover. It just doesn’t do the story justice. It looks so serious some readers may pass it by. Second is to have had some of the story told from Keira’s view. We do get some insight to her feelings, but the story is basically Minni’s. It would have been interesting to have the chapters switch back and forth between the girls – comparing and contrasting how the various events in book impact them. In addition to exploring race issues, the story shows the struggle of being yourself and being accepted for who you are. It also covers the bond between sisters, especially twins. Even though the girls do experience different feelings and challenges which does cause some tension between them, Frazier created a strong bond between the girls, one that can stand up to a little strain and tension. Keira truly is the other half of Minni’s heart.This is an excellent book. Though I didn’t plan this, it turned out to be an excellent book to read around Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. (Dr. King is Minni’s hero and is mentioned frequently in the book.)Recommended for Third Grade and up.Mrs. Archer’s Rating: 5 of 5