Shannon Gibney was born in 1975, in Michigan. She was adopted by Jim and Sue Gibney, and grew up with her two (biological) brothers, Jon and Ben. High School was her blooming period. When she was fifteen, she got her hands on a copy of James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train Has Been Gone, a book that changed her life, and made Gibney see the power in writing. She attended Community High, went to Carnegie Mellon, and majored in creating writing. Ms. Gibney received the Carnegie Mellon Alumni Study/Travel award, using it to travel to Ghana, were she wrote a short story about relationships between African Americans and continental Africans. She attended Indiana University and received her Master’s Degree in 20th Century African American Literature. After graduating Gibney moved to Minneapolis, where she worked for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Ms. Gibney’s YA book, See No Color, is now in stores.
Book summary from https://www.lernerbooks.com/products/t/18600/9781467776820/see-no-color
For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge has known two things:
1. She has always been Little Kirtridge, a stellar baseball player, just like her father.
2. She’s adopted.
These facts have always been part of Alex’s life. Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a white family didn’t make much of a difference as long as she was a star on the diamond where her father—her baseball coach and a former pro player—counted on her. But now, things are changing: she meets Reggie, the first black guy who’s wanted to get to know her; she discovers the letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her body starts to grow into a woman’s, affecting her game.
Alex begins to question who she really is. She’s always dreamed of playing pro baseball just like her father, but can she really do it? Does she truly fit in with her white family? Who were her biological parents? What does it mean to be black? If she’s going to find answers, Alex has to come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her.
