Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color

In this illuminating work, chaplain Adams (The Misinterpreted Gospel of Singleness) shares stories of girls and women of color she met while working in a residential treatment facility for mental health and behavioral issues, focusing on how her subjects cope with injustices and insecurities. Setting up each chapter as a “parable” of one girl and a main struggle she faces, readers first meet Deborah, a nine-year-old with divorced parents who tells Adams: “Why did God make me a warrior when I’m really just weak?” The exchange prompts Adams to ruminate on the need for women to appear strong. Elsewhere, 19-year-old Leah learns that “God never intended for us to see people as less or as something negative, something other. We are created in God’s image and likeness”; 16-year-old Mary confronts issues of body-image, with Adams explaining how hypersexualization was never God’s intention; and 17-year-old Nimi unpacks the complexity of identities, considering what it means to be black in America as opposed to other countries around the world. In the final portrait, 17-year-old Ebony explores the experience of being too black for the white community and too white for the black community. Though directed toward Christians, these profound profiles will be eye-opening for any reader. (Feb.)