From Publishers Weekly
Sinclair’s much-touted story of a teenage girl confronting racial prejudice while growing up on Chicago’s South Side during the late 1960s. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
From newcomer Sinclair, the coming-of-age story of a black girl in 1960’s Chicago. Jean “Stevie” Stevenson is a child of the working poor. Her father is a hospital janitor, her mother is a bank teller, and Grandma owns a popular South Side chicken-stand. Sixth-grader Stevie, meanwhile, is tired of her mother’s rules, her refusal to countenance “black English,” her attempts to make Stevie a dreaded “L7” (square). Stevie’s dream is to be popular and cool, and her wish is granted when ` (more…)
August 18th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Black Girl Tries to Find Herself in the 1960’s
This is an interesting novel about a black girl coming of age
in Chicago. It has some of the awkwardness of first novels but
shows promise.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:59 am
I’m tempted to call this a black coming of age story, but why identify it as such when it’s a great book no matter what your ethnicity?
Stevie grows up among a lot of political and social change, and the generation gap between how she sees things and how her mother views the white and black line is telling. As she goes through grade school through high school she starts questioning her parents mores, and figuring out how to deal with early encounters with interracial dating….
This book is also peppered with great bits of humor, including “Growing up reminded me a little bit of Hide and Go Seek. When it was your time to grow up, Nature said “Here I come, ready or not.” And nature could always find you.” This book will tell (remind?) you what it’s like being a tomboy…, or first learning what a virgin is. Highly recommended.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:18 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inimitable coming of age debut novel
Review by A’Ja Lyons
“Mama, are you a virgin?” preteen Jean “Stevie” Stevenson asks her mother, after a boy in her sixth grade class sends her a note asking her the same…
August 19th, 2009 at 6:39 am
I read this book so many years ago, and mainly because it was causing such a controversy at a school I just had to know what was “so bad” about this book.
It’s a coming of age story where you meet young Stevie, a L7 (square) whose learning all about life and what it has to offer as far as what is a friend? a period? and the big deal about sex?
I think April Sinclair did an excellent job, we need books because sometimes mama can’t talk to you because she’s too afraid! I was tempted to call the school up and ask why the big fuss?
August 19th, 2009 at 9:28 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
I had to read it for my English Reading Class
I thought this book was going to be boring but to my surprise it became very interesting…. I had to do a group decision with the whole class and we had some really good talks…
August 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Life Experience
Stevie, a young, black girl living in Chicago experiences new changes in life to discover her sexual identity. The book is beautifully written and should have been a bestseller.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:29 am
In the book Coffee Will Make You Black, by April Sinclair, the lead character Jean Stevenson, Stevie to her friends, tells in a narrative perspective of her adolescent years, growing up in Chicago in the 1960’s. The book is like Stevie’s diary. She tells you her experiences with boys, girls, love, sex, popularity, school and racism in a comical and to-the-point fashion. The book is a quick, easy, fun read that hooks you from the start. It deals with very realistic issues that are fun and interesting to read about. The book makes you feel like you are part of Stevie’s chaotic life. She gives you the opportunity to share her deepest, darkest, secrets. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the book an 8. I enjoyed reading it greatly, and finished it in one day. I liked reading it because it dealt with issues that I deal with. It tells of Stevie’s hard times with boys, other girls, sex, love, popularity, which are all important to me now as a freshman in high school. It didn’t take very long to get into the book because the first page is a humorous anecdote about a boy asking if 12 year old Stevie is a virgin. Stevie, confused with the meaning of virgin, goes home and asks her mamma. The whole book is little anecdotes like the one above so I liked it from the start. The book isn’t very short yet the words and vocabulary are very easy and simply written so stumbling over big words is not a problem. Nothing very big happens in the book, it stays rather monotone throughout. Something I found a little hard to understand was the slang. Since Stevie is growing up in the sixties in Chicago, there are bound to be differences in slang but overall the read is easy. It may be hard for younger people to read this book because they might not get what some of the terms mean. This book reminded me of many movies about teenage-hood. Like American Pie or Election. I have never read another book by April Sinclair but I enjoyed this book and will read other works by this author. In class we have reading groups where there are four groups of five kids and each group reads a different book. To decide which book to read the teacher read the first pages of every book. I enjoyed the first page so I signed up to read this book. Since the book is written from a females perspective, I think that girls would relate and enjoy reading it more because it deals with female issues. I can imagine a guy not understanding the complete intent of the author. The book is very funny so I think that the reader should have a good sense of humor, and maybe someone that grew up in the sixties could relate to an even greater extent. ” What does ‘coffee will make you black mean mama?’ ‘The old folks in the South used to tell that to children so they wouldn’t want to drink coffee. The last thing anybody wanted to be was black.”‘ This quote is from page 111 in the book. I chose this quote not only because it is obviously the line in which the title of the book comes from, but because it also represents the feelings about different races at the time. I don’t get why people ever thought that darker skin made a difference. Personally I think all racism is ridiculous and that this quote is very interesting. To think that back then the children were told that in order to stay lighter they shouldn’t drink coffee is ridiculous. It shows that back then they weren’t proud of their skin color and would do anything, like not drink coffee, to stay lighter. I wonder if maybe this saying was also to keep kids from just drinking coffee. Maybe they didn’t want the children to drink too much caffeine. In any case being darker was the worst thing imaginable. I hope that this quote shows a little bit of how the book is written. This is a more serious moment in the book but I thought it was important. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
August 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Novel!
I just happened to stumble upon this novel this morning in the libaray at my school and I can’t put it down! April Sinclair is a poignant, powerful, hilarious writer.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
4.0 out of 5 stars
DAMN!
Sadly enough, two weeks ago I had to toss out my AUTOGRAPHED, 1ST EDITION COPIES of “Coffee will Make You Black” and “Ain’t gonna be…
August 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Coming-Of-Age Book
I could not put this book down for a second. A. Sinclair explores the life of Jean Stevenson (Stevie) growing up in Chicago during the 1960’s.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible…
I was so excited to find a book with a female author whose not complaining about how she has no man, a bad/good sex life, and kids.
August 19th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
4.0 out of 5 stars
coffee will make you black
I thought that the book, Coffee will make you Black by April Sinclair, was very interesting especially coming from a teenage girls perspective on life.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
4.0 out of 5 stars
coffee did make me black
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I gave me a lot of insight on how it was to be growing up as a afro-american teenager, or any teenager for that matter, growing up in the 60’s and…