The Color of Water

Even a casual glance at today’s headlines will show how race continues to be a perplexing issue in our society. And it shouldn’t be. But we need examples of how to navigate the complexities of race and McBride’s powerful memoir shows us how.

His deep love – and appreciation – for his mother and coming to terms with her story while still standing in his own truth as a Black man is instructive and inspiring…and a reminder that there is nothing greater than love.

One of my all-time favorite books, it is a beautifully told memoir by a Black man who grows up with eleven siblings, his eccentric white Jewish mother, and a Black stepfather who does not live with the rest of the family but piles everyone into his old car on the weekends for outings.

There is so much love permeating this memoir—which took the author ten years to write—that it deserves its place as an American classic. A New York Times bestseller for two years, I can’t recommend it enough!

I rarely read books a second time, but this book is an exception. McBride writes with charm and humor about his family of twelve children living in the projects in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His mother refused to admit she was white while raising her children with her Black minister husband. Coming-of-age, racial identity, and family secrets are ever-present themes in this powerful and poignant narrative.