Citizens Read: The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

February's Citizens Read is being held in conjunction with the Multnomah County Library's 2012 Everybody Read program.

The Everybody Reads 2012 selection is The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow. This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community in Portland, where her light brown skin, blue eyes and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white.