by Malla Nunn, 291 pages, Grades 7 and up.

Amandla is growing up in South Africa and, even though, Apartheid (a system of state-sanctioned segregation) is over and it is no longer illegal for races to mix, it is still very uncommon and stigmatized. Amandla was born to a white mother and a Black father. Her mother, Annalisa, tries to be a good parent, but struggles with severe mental health issues which may have been caused by her complicated past. Amandla wants to understand her mother and is curious about her own mixed-race identity, so she courageously begins to seek information about her mother’s past. Amandla is strong, and she will need to be, because sometimes things you don’t know have been hidden by people who don’t want them uncovered and those people will often stop at nothing to keep the secrets from coming into the light.

Check here for this book's availability.

If you enjoy historical mysteries you might also like: Dreamland Burning, by Jennifer Latham, Fountains of Silence, by Ruta Sepetys, or The Parker Inheritance, by Varian Johnson.

Tags: mystery, coming of age, family problems, racism, realistic fiction, biracial, mixed race, South Africa