Mixed by Kip Fulbeck

Mixed by Kip Fulbeck
Chronicle Books (March 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0811874087
ISBN-13: 978-0811874083
All Ages
264 pages
Buy Here for $13.57
My Rating: 5/5

Summary from GoodReads: From beloved writer and artist Kip Fulbeck, author of Part Asian, 100% Hapa, this timely collection of portraits celebrates the faces and voices of mixed-race children. At a time when 7 million people in the U.S. alone identify as belonging to more than one race, interest in issues of multiracial identity is rapidly growing. Overflowing with uplifting elements including charming images, handwritten statements from the children, first-person text from their parents, a foreword by Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng (President Obama's sister), and an afterword by international star Cher (who is part Cherokee) this volume is an inspiring vision of the future.

The Verdict: This is a book that has been on my to be owned list for a while and when it finally arrived in the mail today I was over the moon and of course re-read the whole thing in one setting. So what makes this book so amazing?
Well if some of you somehow missed this news flash, I am mixed. And I am married to a man who does not share the same racial heritage as me. So our kids will be even more mixed. Mexican, Native American, German, Caucasian, Irish, Austrian, Czech and Prussian to be exact.
Growing up mixed was interesting for me. While most of my life was spent in areas predominated by white culture, at 17 I moved into a household that primarily spoke Spanish and ate Mexican food everyday. In both areas I felt as many of the parents and Kip expressed in Mixed, that I was always pressured to chose one culture over the other. "Choose one" on the demographic forms.
So what I loved about this book is how it embraces a new generation of mixed kids and paves the way for them that they don't have to choose one race over the other. They won't have to choose to identify with one race but can embrace their Heinz 57 of cultures and be proud and beautiful.
If I had to pick one complaint with this book, it's that is wasn't as diversified as I'd like to see. A few mix combinations were displayed over and over again with some not pictured at all (Where are the strictly Latino/Caucasian kids?).
Overall this is a book I am so happy to have as part of my permanent bookshelf and definitely plan to share it with my children in the years to come.