5/5 stars. Absolutely phenomenal. Purchasing additional copies for library, and using in lessons and book talks.

This was one of my favorite books I read. The voice of the main character drew me in from the first page. I walked in shoes I had never walked in before. I can't wait for more from Alicia D. Williams.

This book is so wonderful!
Genesis is able to navigate her life with a skill that goes almost unnoticed by everyone around her. The way she is able to compartmentalize her feelings about her father, her housing situation changes, her insecurities about her appearance, and her love for her family is amazing. There is a lot to learn here for readers who aren't familiar with the nuances of colorism among the African American community as well as for anyone who seeks assurance of their self worth.

A new favorite of mine, Genesis Begins Again is a very important book for everyone to read. It deals with colorism, and internalized racism. Man, woman, and child, and people of all colors definitely need to read this.! And I think this book will be especially important for poc children who are black and brown, as a early lesson in helping them to understand the power of loving the skin you're in.

Sadly, I couldn't get this book to format correctly on my e-reader. But I do still want to read it, so I'm going to buy the book.

First, let me start off by saying thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, by way of NetGalley, for the advanced copy of "Genesis Begins Again", in exchange for my honest opinion.
"Genesis Begins Again",starts off as a seemingly light hearted teen friendly tale, but it becomes apparent quickly that this is so much more. It soon becomes evident that young Genesis is eager to fit in with a particular group of girls. Just when she believes that she is on the right track life throws a wrench and brings her back to reality.
Genesis desires to be percieved as beautiful, popular, and most of all accepted by her family. When circumstances present Genesis with a chance at a new start she reluctantly takes it. To her surprise her new opportunity proves to be just what she needed, to and extent. Some things in her life remain just the same, and this is not good. Genesis fights the negative voices in her head and seeks to come a resolution of who she will become.
Author, Alicia D. Williams, did an amazing job addressing a universal issue that has affected the lives of so many for centuries, self hate. This book takes us on a journey of what many are suffering and struggling with within themselves. The story gives us history and present idiosyncrasies that have created scarring results. It is time to bring this to the light so that our future generations stand a chance of knowing what it is to love themselves.
I do recommend this book for all ages and ethnicities.

We all have hurts. We all have pain. We all have lists of things we don't love about ourselves, but we all deserve a chance to begin again. We all deserve a fresh start.
Genesis Begins Again is a beautifully written novel about discovering who you are through those around you. It's about learning your history for better or worse. Genesis gets moved around the greater Detroit area thanks to her Dad's bad habits and irresponsibility. She is finally starting to feel settled in a place with people she actually considers friends when the hinges fall of. Genesis does a lot of learning about herself and who she really wants to be through various challenges.
Great read!

Such a powerful book dealing with the struggles of an African American girl who desperately wants to be pretty and just can't see it. After being evicted four times, dealing with a drunk father who seems to resent her existence, getting a list of reasons who she's ugly, and even realizing that her grandmother thinks she's too black to be pretty, it's easy to see why she struggles. But will this last move change things? Can everything truly be okay?

After getting evicted over and over, Genesis finally feels like she's fitting in. She's got friends and teachers that she likes, but her dad is still breaking his promises to change. Will she have to move again?
This book is heart-breaking and you cheer for Genesis the whole time. As she learns secrets about her family, deals with bullies at school, she also has to learn how to accept herself!
Such a great book and I can't wait to recommend to my students.

This is a book that I was hesitant to start, and I'm not really sure why. Once I picked it up, I was invested from page 1. It usually takes me at least a chapter to really get into a book, but I was ready to find out the story behind Genesis from the beginning.
As a teacher, this was a super important read, and would recommend it for all teachers to read, no matter where you teach or what grade you teach. Students come into classrooms, some carrying a little bit of stress and some carrying so much more than they should have to. I know that there are students that feel like they do not belong, or have moved multiple times throughout the school year, or are facing evictions, or are being abused at home, and the list goes on.
This book brings light to the idea that students may be coming to school with so much to worry about outside of school, and they might not have anyone else to go to. The teachers can be pivotal in the relationships students build with their school. This book also focuses around the idea of bullying, and the school that Genesis attends has a strong rule against bullying. I got a few ideas of how I can help against bullying in my classroom and school.
Now a review for recommending it to my students. The main character is in middle school, so I think that I would recommend this to students as young as 5th grade. I would have the hope that if my students read it, they would be able to connect to at least one of the many diverse characters in at least one way. If I used this a classroom read, I would want to lead discussions on abuse, bullying, making friends, feeling like you don't fit in.
Overall, I was blown away by this debut novel and plan on reading this book again, and also other books published by this author.

The book is a must have for middle school libraries. Genesis is living in poverty, dealing with her family's eviction, changing schools again, other family issues, and self-loathing. Genesis and her story draw you in as she struggles to find her way and learns to see the beauty within herself.

Genesis has self esteem issues in spades. Her skin is very dark like her father's and she has been picked on for it her whole life - even her grandmother comments on how it would be better if she was lighter. What's worse - her dad in his drunken states has picked on her and told her that he wishes she were lighter, like her mother. In addition her family keeps getting evicted - her dad drinks, can't keep his job, can't pay the rent. When they finally move to a nice neighborhood Genesis sees what life can be like outside of Detroit but she still wishes for lighter skin, straighter hair. Fortunately in her new school Genesis makes some friends and has a music teacher who helps her find her voice. Does Genesis have the courage to love herself and begin again?
This was really something. A glimpse into color - and variations of color and how they impact our perceptions - of ourselves, of others. It also touches on family dynamics and history. I felt it went a little long but overall found it to be powerful.

This book is INCREDIBLE. My heart absolutely broke for Genesis as I read her story, thinking of all the amazing kids who might have felt that same self-loathing. This is a story that I hope will be a kinder mirror for those kids, showing them an honest glimpse of their own beauty, and an empathetic window for others. I was drawn right into Genesis’ story, feeling her conflicted emotions, her courageous triumphs, and her painful regrets. We need more books like this- #ownvoices books by #authorsofcolor - I learned SO much from this book!
Librarians, parents, and teachers of kids (especially those in 5th-8th grade): READ this book, add it to your library, and share it with young people - and not just those who are Black. This is eye-opening for kids of all colors, but especially white kids who may have no idea that their peers have these kinds of internal and external struggles. This is an important book that deserves ALL the buzz and hype!

I was hooked by Genesis’ tone from page one, and knew she’d be a character I’d be rooting for when, 2nd page in, she sees her all her furniture out on the front yard along with some “friends” she’s trying to impress (remember this for later...)

This is not new to Genesis: she’s had throw her things into trash bags and go sleep at Grandma’s, or on a mattress on the floor with strangers. You see, mom works for minimum wage while dad spends what earnings they have on alcohol rather than pay rent.

For some kids, this is their normal.

There’s no sugar coating the realities here, and on top of an already difficult situation is Genesis’ scary focus of wanting to change the color of her skin. Milk. Lemons. Bleach. Skin whitening cream. This, for me, was the toughest part to read because she does some scary stupid things to herself in search of lighter skin, but what it comes down to is her sense of self worth.

“I did this to myself.”

The book tackles several tough topics and had me holding my breath when Genesis began to build some positive relationships. I was certain it’d turn bad and am glad to see they were maintained, and flourished, to help her come to her new beginning.

Genesis Begins Again is an honest view of what it can feel like to be a young girl with a dark complexion trying to conform to society's beauty standards.
This is a beautiful story, one that is needed in every collection.

Genesis' family often falls on hard times. Her father has an industrial job, her mother cares for the elderly, and they have been evicted from four different homes in the Detroit area. During the last eviction, Genesis had brought home girls from school whom she hoped to impress, but this of course backfires. Her father, who is an extremely problematic alcoholic who is not very kind to Genesis, surprises her and her mother with a fancy house he has rented in the wealthy suburb of Farmington Hills. While she likes the new place, Genesis worries that they can't possibly make the rent, and she also worries about going to the new school with predominately white students. Genesis is very dark complected, and is self-conscious in the extreme about this, especially when other students call her names such as "Charcoal" and "Eggplant". She also doesn't like her hair. Her mother is very light, and her grandmother seems to blame all of the father's problems on his dark complexion, and makes it very clear to Genesis that her mother would have done better for herself had she married a man with a skin tone closer to her own light one. As a result, Genesis tries a lot of dangerous ways to lighten her skin-- scrubbing it raw, using lemon juice, and even pouring bleach in her bath. Luckily, at her new school she is able to make friends with Sophia, who has trouble with other students because of the way her OCD manifests itself. She is also glad to find a friend in Troy, a self-proclaimed "black nerd" who is as dark as she is and is tutoring her in math. Genesis thinks she has a friend in Yvette, who invites her to sing with her group in the talent show and who relaxes Genesis' hair, but in the end, Yvette is not as supportive as she seems. The family is in danger of losing their house yet again, and there are destructive secrets being kept, but in the end, the family is able to work together to get back on the right track.

Strengths: There are very few books dealing with perceptions of black complexion (I can only think of Flake's The Skin I'm In (2007) and Magoon's Camo Girl (2011)), and it's good to see a new one. The feeling of Detroit and its environs is very strong and well done. Genesis' attempts to solve her family's difficult problems are heartbreaking, but also very realistic. It's nice that she has a supportive teacher at school. While the conversation about complexion with her grandmother is cringeworthy, it's also historically accurate and very interesting. It's good that Genesis' mother has a more modern approach to the question.
Weaknesses: Skin color prejudice within ethnic populations is something I know nothing about, so it seemed a bit odd and unnecessarily mean to me. It did seem a bit odd, however, to have Genesis' father, who was a very, very poor example of a father, be the one with the very dark skin. It would have been much more interesting to have him have the lighter complexion, and the opinionated grandmother to be the one who was darker!
What I really think: Definitely purchasing a copy, although I wish it were a little shorter. It's definitely a middle school book, but 400 pages is about twice the length that the average middle school reader is apt to pick up willingly!

Genesis Begins Again is a raw, honest view of what it can feel like to be a young girl with a dark complexion trying to conform to society's beauty standards. In addition to the ups and downs, mostly downs, of middle school, Genesis must navigate life with an alcoholic, gambling father who destroys her sense of security every month.

The book begins with Genesis feeling euphoric because she has made friends with the most popular girls in her grade. They have agreed to visit her home and they arrive to find all of the family's furniture and belongings sitting on the lawn. They have been evicted. Genesis stammers and tries to make up stories about the situation, but the girls ruthlessly mock her. Genesis must always begin again, new friends, new school, and new realizations. Why does her grandmother "hate" her dad? Why does her mom always forgive him despite the humiliation? How can she learn to love herself as she is?

Genesis Begins Again tore me apart and pieced me back together. The dialog was so authentic, I felt like I was watching events unfold. As a person of Afro Caribbean descent, I related to the colorsim that Genesis and her father live through. This is the first book for middle grade readers that addresses this issue honestly and fearlessly. The reader comes away understanding that Genesis is beginning to accept herself, but she has a long road ahead. I enthusiastically recommend Genesis Begins Again.