A Girl of Different Colors

When eleven-year-old Melissa is told that she'll be moving to the United States with her mother, she is heartbroken. She loves her native New Zealand, land of the Kiwis, and can't imagine living anywhere else. However, Melissa's mother is getting married to a man who lives in San Francisco, California, and that's where the family will start their new life.

Share Melissa's experiences as she says good-bye to familiar faces and surroundings, and hello to new sounds, sights, and smells. Discover how she deals with being uprooted from her home. Join in her journey as she meets new friends, enters an American school for the first time, and deals with her relationships with her biological dad and her stepfather. She also shares her viewpoint on the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, and how the event affected her family in the United States and abroad.

Will Melissa come to terms with her new life, or will she always dream of going home to New Zealand? Inspired by author Estrelita Krakower's daughter, who actually made the journey with her mom to begin a new life in the United States, A Girl of Different Colors is an inspiring tale of family bonds, friendships, and cultural diversity.