BCBA Spotlight: Sundee T. Frazier

Sundee T. Frazier brings a different but familiar perspective to her stories about the African American experience. She gives a voice to biracial and multiracial children. In her debut middle school novel, Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It, the main character is a biracial kid named Brendan who’s into science and Tae Kwon Do; he is living a fairly routine life until he develops a secret relationship with a man who loves science just as much as he does. That man turns out to be his grandfather, but when someone discovers their secret, Brendan must suddenly face issues of racism, prejudice, and rejection. Frazier received critical praise for delicately handling a heavy subject. She won the John Steptoe New Talent Award among others.

Frazier is biracial, and a lot of her writing draws from her experiences. She knows that many biracial and multiracial children struggle to identify with one particular race. Therefore, she expressed that “I aim to be honest with my readers—not to avoid uncomfortable subjects like race, because I know young people are thinking about these things and it serves them to read and talk about them.” In The Other Half of My Heart, Frazier again skillfully “highlights the contradictions, absurdities, humor and pain that accompany life as a mixed-race tween.” Her new series, Cleo Edison Oliver, features an aspiring entrepreneur and addresses the subject of adoption. The first book was released earlier this year, and book two is due out in January 2017. Read more about Sundee T. Frazier by clicking on the sources and additional reading links.