The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780593111994)

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

Part memoir, part speculative fiction, this novel explores the often surreal experience of growing up as a mixed-Black transracial adoptee.

Dream Country author Shannon Gibney returns with a new book woven from her true story of growing up as the adopted Black daughter of white parents and the fictional story of Erin Powers, the name Shannon was given at birth by the white woman who gave her up for adoption.

At its core, the novel is a tale of two girls on two different timelines occasionally bridged by a mysterious portal and their shared search for a complete picture of their origins. Gibney surrounds that story with reproductions of her own adoption documents, letters, family photographs, interviews, medical records, and brief essays on the surreal absurdities of the adoptee experience.

The end result is a remarkable portrait of an American experience rarely depicted in any form.

Author: Shannon Gibney
ISBN-10: 0593111990
ISBN-13: 9780593111994
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Language: English
Published: 01/10/2023
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.78lbs
Size: 8.49h x 5.86w x 0.89d
Award: Michael L. Printz Award - Honor Book

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2022
Publishers Weekly 01/30/2023
Booklist 02/15/2023 pg. 53
School Library Journal 05/26/2023 pg. 1