Roxie in Color - by Diane Debrovner & Stacy Cervenka (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Roxie wants to blend in at her new school, which means hiding the fact that her parents are blind, in this remarkable novel about friendship, misperceptions, and family--plus a dog's view of the world.

Starting seventh grade in a new town, Roxie is determined to be known as more than "the girl with blind parents"--she's also an artist, an animal lover, and the kind of person who bakes cookies for people she cares about for no special reason. But that means keeping her parents' blindness a secret and definitely not telling anyone that she might inherit the eye condition that caused her mother's vision loss. For a while, Roxie is happier than she's ever been. But the lies start piling up when she secretly uses her "emergencies only" credit card with her new friends at the mall. And when a neighbor catches the group sneaking out at night, Child Protective Services is sent to investigate Roxie's parents. In a society that often holds damaging misconceptions about blind people, can Roxie find acceptance within her new community--and finally be honest with her friends, her parents, and herself? Typeset in a font developed by the Braille Institute specifically for low-vision readers, this heartfelt depiction of a girl establishing her own identity, with some chapters told from the perspective of her mother's aging guide dog, is an authentic portrayal of the joys, challenges, and everyday ordinariness of being raised by parents who have a disability.

About the Author

Diane Debrovner is the former deputy editor of Parents magazine and author of the article "What Blind Parents Want You to See," which provided the spark for this novel. She now helps nonprofits share their stories to raise the funding they need. Diane lives in New York City with her family and a dog who loves watermelon.

Stacy Cervenka is the director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and previously led the Blind Parents Group of the National Federation of the Blind. She divides her time between Des Moines and Lincoln, Nebraska, where she lives with her husband and two children. Just like Roxie's family, Stacy and her husband, Greg, are blind, while their children, Leo and Josephine, are sighted.