• English

  • interracial family, mixed race identity, anti-Black racism, childhood, only child, girlhood, separated parents, two homes, music, class

  • Grade 4 +

She’s Isabella to her dad and Izzy to her mom. She plays a fancy piano at her dad’s large house, and a portable keyboard at her mom’s small one. Spending every other week with each parent and their significant other, she’s a “kid sliced in half.” And since her dad’s black and her mom’s white, her identity and her relationships seem even more complicated. Isabella knows she’s loved, but the hostility between her parents and the complexities of juggling two lives make things challenging. Luckily, when things get hard, she has her deep love for the piano, two great friends, and a soon-to-be step brother who has her back.