The question is not what I am, but who I am.

Being in a part Black and part White family seems to confuse the people around Lulu. They say a lot of mean things because they think her family doesn’t fit in. She especially hates that question: What are you?

When Lulu asks her brother, Zane, how he handles that question, Zane helps Lulu find her power phrase.

Hear author Lynnette Mawhinney, PhD, read Lulu the One and Only aloud and suggest an activity.

by Lynnette Mawhinney, PhD

This Article's Author

Lynnette Mawhinney, PhD, is associate professor and chair of the department of urban education at Rutgers University-Newark helping to prepare future urban teachers for the classroom. She has previously published three books (a fourth in progress) and 27 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. One area of her academic research focuses on autoethnographic explorations around biracial identity and development. To date, she has two peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter on biracial identity. This is her first children’s book.

Related Books from Magination Press

  • Lulu the One and Only

    Lynnette Mawhinney, PhD

    Lulu loves her family, but people are always asking

    What are you?

    Lulu hates that question. Her brother inspires her to come up with a “power phrase” so she can easily express who she is, not what she is.

    Includes a Note to Readers from the author, sharing her experience as a multiracial person.