SOURCE: "Soul Mates." in New York Times Book Review, March 15, 1998, p. 22.

[In the following review, Schmidt discusses Birdie's struggle for identity and acceptance in Senna's Caucasia.]

Early on in Danzy Senna's absorbing debut novel, [Caucasia,] her 7-year-old heroine, Birdie Lee, enjoys a rare day alone with her absent-minded professor of a father. They spend the afternoon in the Boston Public Garden, buying a T-shirt for Birdie, riding the swan boat and eating hog dogs before settling on the grass to read the Sunday paper. At one point, Birdie notices an older, well-dressed white couple walking a miniature terrier. They scowl at her and point, but Birdie shrugs them off and lays her head on her father's stomach to read the funnies. A few minutes later, she and her father are interrupted by the couple and two policemen, one of whom questions Birdie: "You can tell us, kiddie. He...