Addie Ann must solve the mystery of who ruined their community garden, or her Uncle Bump will go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.  A good book that went a little long in some parts for me.  Overall, an excellent coming of age story, and an inspiring example of what one girl can accomplish when she dares to tell the truth and stand up for justice.

McWhorter has compiled a collection of essays that he has written about being black in America and what that means. McWhorter is an associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkley, and is fairly conservative in his political views. He is also black, which gives him a good perspective from which to comment on race issues.

I don’t want to attempt to summarize the book, as I just don’t feel I can do it accurately. All I can say is that if you’ve ever felt like race relations (especially between blacks and whites) in this country aren’t what they should be, but aren’t sure why or what you can do about it, you should read this book. McWhorter is the author of another book which I greatly enjoyed —Losing the Race–which is also about race issues. If you are going to choose one McWhorter book to read, I would recommend Losing the Race over Authentially Black.