The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond

Violet Diamond loves her family, but she is tired of the strange looks she always gets when she meets new people.  Violet's mother, sister, and grandparents are blond and blue-eyed, but Violet's father was African American, and she stands out with her brown skin and curly hair.  To make this worse, there aren't even very many African-American people in her small hometown.

Violet's father died before she was born, and she's never even met his side of the family because of anger between them and her mother.  She knows their names, and she knows what her grandmother looks like because she's kind of a famous artist, and Violet has researched her on the internet.

When she discovers that her grandmother will have a showing at a gallery in nearby Seattle, Violet decides it's time to meet her father's side of the family whether they like it or not.

It's not always smooth getting to know new relatives, and Violet discovers that she doesn't just magically fit into this new world like she thought she would, but with time and effort, her universe of family and love will begin to expand.

Read Brenda Woods's new book about what it's like to be biracial in a world that is sometimes still divided into black and white.