Sign-In
Cart
All Skin folk Ain't Kinfolk
Paperback
Series: ASHA, Book 2
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Mar 21 2026
Pages: 72
Weight: 0.24
Height: 0.15 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Asha Williams is settling in - which, for her, means she's starting to care about things. She has friends, mainly her bestie, Nee Nee. And she has Dantay, or something like Dantay, who is honestly taking up approximately forty percent of her brain. She has a block she's starting to know, a school she's starting to read, and a family dinner table that is getting louder and warmer.
Then Asante family moves down the street, including the oldest child and only girl-- Abena Asante. Same age as Asha and ends up sharing a homeroom and five other classes with Asha at Lincoln Middle School.
Abena and her family are originally from Ghana, and were told when they arrived in America to stay away from Black Americans. She has followed that instruction without fully understanding it - until a run-in with a white bully named Jason forces her into Asha's orbit in the worst possible way.
What follows is not a simple story of friendship. It's a story of earned distrust, misplaced anger, historical context, and what happens when two young women from the African diaspora are pitted against each other by the same forces that have always benefited from that division. Asha is righteous and sometimes petty. Abena is guarded and sometimes oblivious. Neither one is entirely right. Both of them are worth rooting for.
Not All Skin folk is a novel about solidarity, betrayal, identity, and what it means to extend grace to someone who hurt you - without pretending they didn't.
Themes
- Anti-Black bias within communities of color and its historical roots
- Pan-African identity and diaspora solidarity
- Bullying and its consequences
- Anger as information vs. anger as instruction
- The complexity of forgiveness and earned trust
- Early romantic feelings and healthy relationship foundations
Best for: Ages 10 and up. A powerful classroom and book club read for discussions on race, identity, and community.
Also from
Dee, Nzinga
Asha Series, Book I: Somewhere New: A Story About Starting Over, Growing Up, and Finding Your Way Home
Dee, Nzinga
Paperback
Also in
General Juvenile Fiction
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two the Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book Two)
Riordan, Rick
Paperback
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One the Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One)
Riordan, Rick
Paperback
Anne of Green Gables, 3-Book Box Set, Volume I: Anne of Avonlea; Anne of the Island; Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, L. M.
Paperback
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters, The: The Graphic Novel
Riordan, Rick
Venditti, Robert
Paperback
Mary Anne Saves the Day: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #3): Full-Color Edition
Martin, Ann M.
Paperback
Claudia and Mean Janine: A Graphic Novel (the Baby-Sitters Club #4): Full-Color Edition
Martin, Ann M.
Paperback
Dog Man: Big Jim Believes: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #14): From the Creator of Captain Underpants: Volume 14
Pilkey, Dav
Hardcover
Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2: From the Creator of Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Kinney, Jeff
Hardcover
Investigators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble
Green, John Patrick
Hastings, Christopher
Hardcover
Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy: A Graphic Novel (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #1): Volume 1
Sutherland, Tui T.
Paperback
Dog Man: Big Jim Begins: A Graphic Novel (Dog Man #13): From the Creator of Captain Underpants: Volume 13
Pilkey, Dav
Hardcover