When the Black Girl Sings is a wonderfully written story about Lahni, a black girl adopted by a white family who are facing divorce, and her upcoming singing competition. Bil Wright succeeds in his manner of writing. It is loose and familiar while his timeline focusses mainly on the weeks before and of the competition. Although he does not deeply develop his characters this is what helps make his book light and fun. He frequently mentions the issue of her race but does not focus in on it to the point of annoyance. Readers are able to glance at this point in Lahni's life and watch as she encounters new family, school, and personal disappointments, as well as, successes. This book best suits the younger end of the Young Adult genre. They will have no trouble handling its content and will certainly enjoy its plot.

3.5

TBH I think this book would be really affirming for a black teen girl to read but it didn't have anything transcendental enough for me to love it as a white adult lady.

I loved this book so much, even though I did not expect to. What I originally thought when placing the book on hold was that it was just going to be focusing on getting through a hard time of her parent's divorce, but it was so much more than that. There are religious aspects of the book and she really did not even care THAT much about the divorce. I would really recommend.

Lahni is the only black student in her prep school and only black person in her adoptive white family. Her sense of self starts to crumble when her parents separate and she finds herself through song and her mother’s return to church. It’s really a simple story, but it resonated with me, perhaps because of where my family is at. (My only complaint was the fact that the book opens with 8th grade girls in the locker room showering and discussion of how some of the girls like to stand around naked for much longer than they need to. I felt like the creepy old man reading that section.)

Gentle family story with a little identity work that comes thru a gospel choir. Little bit of musical competition framework.

I haven't read a book quite like this before. It's a great read with a few moments that really ring true. Lani and the other characters were interesting and strong, but I didn't emotionally connect to the story. Her relationship with her parents and best friend represent something I've personally felt, but seldom read about, which I really appreciated. The ending didn't shine for me as much as some of the other scenes. The situation with Onyx 1 was a little confusing, though his interactions with Lani added an interesting third dimension to the book. I found the back misleading - I thought there would be a little more about singing. I guess I was expecting it to be more detailed? The parts with the singing were described beautifully, but there wasn't very much about the process of her learning to sing. The plot thread of her parents' divorce was handled well, but it seemed to lack something, maybe motivationally.