Teensreadtoo review of SELLOUT

Before I started reading, I was worried I wouldn't like NaTasha. I mean, the spelling alone is a little odd. Usually weird spellings of names can be weird. The PoC cliche of being constantly abused because of one's color was also a worry - not that it doesn't happen or that it isn't serious, but that it happens constantly from every single source. SELLOUT manages to avoid cliches and focus on a story that's modern yet timeless.

NaTasha's journey is different. She's not made fun of at her school in the suburbs. They don't torture her or make fun of her skin color, or even show much care for it. It's all about the underlying differences. NaTasha and her friend, Heather, try to make her like everyone else - and the fitting in suffocates who NaTasha really is. She tries to change her hair, and doesn't do the sport she likes just to be like the popular white girls. What's interesting is that NaTasha, on some level, knows that what she's doing isn't great from the beginning, which is realistic and perceptive. Usually, we are given a protagonist who is amazingly ignorant of themselves. NaTasha is smarter than that, shown by her agreement to go and help Tilly. Her narration shows that perceptiveness, and it made me really
respect NaTasha as a character.

SELLOUT is an excellent debut novel that takes a deeper look into finding yourself and finding what your roots really mean. It's not your cliche PoC-Overcoming-Prejudice story, and is an excellent addition to the YA books of 2010 - RJ Jacobs

If you're interested in RJ's entire review, here's the link - http://www.teensreadtoo.com/SellOutEJW.html