A racially fueled incident exposes the fissures that sit beneath the surface of friendships and families, causing even more damage than the massive earthquake that separates them, The Earth Breaks in Colors is a powerful story of race and redemption. Whisper and Odelia are eleven-year-old girls who find refuge in the quiet corner of innocent friendship. Their Southern California homes each play host to an undercurrent of secrets. For Whisper that means a fractured mother returning from rehab, for Odelia a brother whose absence is laced with mystery. Race had no real place in the playful friendship of the white Whisper and the black Odelia, until a terrifying encounter brings prejudice to the forefront of their lives, opening their young hearts to ill begotten emotion. A violent earthquake further tears the world as they know it apart. Can hope and innocence be restored? An heirloom timepiece, a curious old woman and an unlikely hero join the girls as they search for their families and understanding among the rubble.
"Two pre-teen girls form a fast and important interracial friendship, despite the growing hostility around them. A timely, tender, and unforgettable look at what love does and what hate can destroy."
Caroline Leavitt, The New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures o
"This is gorgeous writing; a heartbreaking, acutely observed portrait of two Los Angeles families, united by friendship and tragedy and the delicate journeys they make to try to keep toppling into the cracks and canyons of the constantly fracturing paradise that is Southern California."
David Rambo
"There is a whole genre of literature in which the innocence of childhood is touched by the realities of the grown-up world"
