Trudy asked Gabrielle Zevin:

Hi Gabrielle, my club just finished your book and I absolutely adored it! Definitely one of my favorites. So, what is AJ's nationality? When the customer said, "You are both Black, but you are a different kind of Black." What does that mean.?

Gabrielle Zevin Thanks for the question. A.J. and Maya are both biracial, as am I! A.J. is half-Indian and half-caucasian, and Maya is half-African American and half-caucasian (is this a spoiler?) From my point-of-view, the customer is being curious, if awkward, when she phrases the question that way. She's trying to say, "You don't look related, but clearly this little girl is behaving as if you are her father -- so what exactly is your relation?" I don't think the customer has bad intentions, but A.J. definitely takes the question and its phrasing to be racist, intrusive, and offensive. He takes it to mean, "You two don't look like you belong together." As a biracial person, I have spent much of my life being asked the question WHAT ARE YOU, and so I am personally familiar with the many ways (both tactful and tactless) this question can be put.

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