This Book Might Be About Zinnia

Gr 7 Up–In alternating perspectives, two teenage girls search for the meaning of family. In 2024, Zinnia Davis, 18, is a perfectionist whose dream is to go to Harvard, like her adoptive parents. After receiving feedback that her personal essay is “unoriginal,” she must find a way to make her writing stand out. When her favorite author’s newest book has details that align with her own life, she begins to suspect that the author could be her birth mother, and figuring out the truth would make for the perfect essay. In 2006, Tuesday Walker, 16, is trying to piece her life back together after placing her newborn daughter for adoption, which she processes through writing in her journal. Tuesday learns her mother’s insistence to keep the baby a secret may be darker than it seems after finding newspaper clippings that involve murder, the mafia, and the family of the baby’s father. The time lines converge when Zinnia sneaks off to New York City to confront the author in person. It can be difficult to differentiate Zinnia’s and Tuesday’s perspectives, due to similarities between characters (both girls have café jobs and are dealing with overbearing mothers). The commentary provided on what it means to be a family, transracial adoption, and the feelings experienced by adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents is done well, with Zinnia, Tuesday, and Zinnia’s adoptive mother learning to be understanding of one another's feelings and boundaries. Zinnia is biracial (Black and white), Tuesday is Black.