Woods, Brenda.
THE BLOSSOMING UNIVERSE OF VIOLET DIAMOND
New York : Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014
IL 3-6, RL 4.6
ISBN 0399257144

(3 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Eleven-year-old biracial Violet has a loving family – Mom, sister Daisy, Gam and Poppy – but she often feels out of place in Moon Lake, Washington, a mostly white community. Her African American father died before she was born and she has never met his side of her family, until her grandmother has an art exhibit in Seattle.  Can she convince her mother to take her to the art exhibit?  And will her grandmother accept her if she does?    (Booktalk by Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Committee)

Booktalk #2

Violet is like most of her friends: smart and funny, but her biracial heritage sets her apart at her mostly white school. People who don’t know her ask if she’s adopted, which makes her outspoken and now curious about her family. Though her deceased father’s family has never sought her out, she sets out on a quest to meet them. Will they accept her?   (Booktalk by the Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Committee)

Booktalk #3

Violet lives with her mother and sister in a mostly white town.  Growing up without her African American father has been hard, and at the age of eleven, Violet wants to know more about her father and her heritage.  Violet arranges a meeting to see her “Bibi” (Swahili for “grandmother”) who she finds out lives in Los Angeles.  Bibi is an artist who will be traveling to Seattle soon for an exhibit in the Museum of Art.   In a room full of paintings, people, and hors d’oeuvres, Violet spots the artist Roxanne Diamond.  She holds out her hand and announces, “I’m Violet, your granddaughter!” 
(Oklahoma Sequoyah Award, 2017)