Feature Book of the Week Other Half of My Heart by Sundee T. Frazier

FEATURE OF BOOK OF THE WEEK

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.

GUEST POST BY SUNDEE T. FRAZIER

Writing The Other Half of My Heart ranks in the top ten hardest things I’ve ever done (maybe even top five). But as with many things that require much of us, it also ranks as one of my most rewarding accomplishments. I hope you have enjoyed (or will enjoy) reading it as much as I enjoyed sending the final manuscript off to the publisher!

I always find it fascinating to learn where stories come from and which elements are based on authors’ real-life experiences. So I thought you might like to know some of the real-life occurrences that shaped and showed up in my novel.

First, there’s the whole concept of the book: twin sisters who have such different physical features that people don’t think they belong to the same race, let alone the same family. Believe it or not, this happens. The more people mix and mingle, the more it’s going to happen. On my web site you can see some examples of twins like the ones in my book (http://www.sundeefrazier.com/heart2.php).

The idea actually came from my editor, who had read a news story about such a family. She told me about the article and asked, “I wonder what those girls’ lives will be like when they’re ten . . . Do you think you could write a story about that?”

Never one to turn down a challenge, I said, “Sure!” Of course, it wasn’t long until all kinds of doubts set in, but I continued to press on, believing that if anyone could write such a story, I could, being that I’m a mix of black and white myself.

Now, I know I’m African-American, but others often assume I’m white, which is why I chose to write from the white-appearing sister’s point of view. Minni is sort of shy, a bit insecure, unsure of her talents, a lover of animals and books. She longs to be brave and to make the world a better place, like her hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of this is true of me. I’ve never used olive oil to try and brown myself up in the sun, as she does, but I have often wished I were darker so that I would be more recognizable as a black person.

As a non-black appearing black person, I have at times been in the awkward position of overhearing racist comments, just as Minni realizes in the dress shop that she and her sister have been treated differently because of the owner’s racism. The dress shop scene is completely fabricated, but the experience of realizing I am treated or seen differently because I have light skin is not.

Likewise, my light skin has caused some black people not to recognize me as black, just as Minni experiences when Grandmother Johnson is signing her and Keira up for the pageant (or should I say, the “achievement program”?). These experiences have been very painful and I drew on my emotions from those times to write this scene.

There are many other ways I drew on personal or family stories to create the novel. Grandmother Johnson’s experience of being raised by her white-appearing grandmother is based on my own grandmother’s story: Her grandmother was the daughter of a slave and master, biracial under a whole different set of circumstances, in a time when “biracial” didn’t exist. One of my African-American aunts inspired Miss Oliphant’s “wisdom dolls.” She made one of these dried apple dolls for me when I was a girl, and it was she who encouraged me, “There are many ways to be black, Sundee.” Wise words, indeed.

One scene that has nothing to do with race that is based on real-life experience is the scene where Grandmother Johnson nails a bag of dog poop to her neighbor’s door. My husband and I used to live in a condo and one of our neighbors let his dog roam (and poop) all over the place. Finally, my husband had had enough, so to let our neighbor know he didn’t appreciate the poop everywhere, he bagged some and tied it to the man’s door handle.

When Grandmother Johnson grabbed that hammer and started pounding, I didn’t realize that my subconscious had actually taken the memory of my husband’s “justice crusade” against poop and turned it into a scene. I had actually forgotten all about it! But that’s the power of the subconscious in this whole writing process – sometimes we know exactly what we’re doing and where it’s coming from. Other times it’s more mysterious. Hopefully the end result is a good read. I certainly hope The Other Half of My Heart will be such a read for you!

ABOUT SUNDEE T FRAZIER

I was the kind of kid who noticed the little flowers growing in sidewalk cracks, shaved my hairless doll's legs with a real razor, and stuffed olives up my nose just to see what would happen. I pretended bits of glass I found on the playground were diamonds and went searching for clues to mysteries that didn't exist. I wanted to be a magician, a geologist, a detective, a singer, and a radio broadcaster. A Charlie's Angel would also have been fine.

One thing I never thought to be was a writer. (Although I recently found out from my mom that at age nine I announced I wanted to publish a book. I don't remember this, but I believe my mom, of course.)

Near the end of my time in college, I took a children's literature class. Our final project was to write and illustrate a children's book. I stayed up all night to finish my assignment in time, and I didn't even need to drink any coffee to do it! Writing that story made me feel like a kid again: It was like playing!

Over the next eight years, I did a bunch of things — like hanging out with college students, and kids, and women trying to better their lives, and making music with my husband, and traveling to places like South Africa and Guyana and Italy.

Then on an airplane going to somewhere I can't remember, my husband asked me, "If you could do anything you wanted, and money weren't an issue, what would you do?"

I didn't even think about it. "Be a children's writer," I said.


And that's what I set out to do. And what I continue to work on being better at every day, by which I mean trying to become more honest. Being honest as a writer means telling the truth about who we are, both the good and the bad.

Even though being the most truthful, imaginative, skilled writer I can be is very important to me, it will never be more important than my family. I have a wonderful husband (who I will always thank for asking me that question on the airplane), and two very fun and inspiring daughters, Skye and Umbria (I call her Umi) — named for the sky and the ocean, two vast expanses that remind me to stay open to wonder, possibility, and most of all, love.