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Title: Unrealistically inaightful
Review: Fiona Cheng is an eleven year old American girl with a Chinese father and a Scottish mother. She is "half and half" as she puts it, but is starting to realize that her identity is more complicated than two halves making a whole. Performing in her town's folk festival, Fiona wants to represent both of her halves but scheduling conflicts cause her to have to choose a side. Fiona's solution to her problem helps her realize that everyone has something different to offer about their own unique identity. Namioka's chapter book depicts a struggle to fit in that her readers will relate to, however her reflections on being biracial are at times too perceptive. Fiona's sophisticated musings on her racial identity sound more like a parent's contemplation on her mixed race child than her own. Written in a sometimes tediously moralizing tone, biracial readers of Half and Half may not find a character they can truly identify with.
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