The Girl Who Fell From The Sky Analysis

In the book The Girl Who Fell From The Sky By Heidi W. Durrow Rachel struggles to find her identity and race and how she fits in the world. In the book the theme is, The things people say about you don't make you who you are, you make who you are and what you will be in the future. Being told by her classmates and others on who she is just by the way she looks and from what her aunt and grandmother say make her confused about who she is, hearing two different things on who she is.

In the beginning of the book Rachel gets adjusted to living with her grandma and her aunt Loretta and ends up going to a new school there. At this new school Rachel notices there are fifteen black people and seven white people in her class and one classmate who looks similar to her. Rachel starts to understand these certain labels/stereotypes put on certain colored people. On page 10 she says “I learn that black people don't have blue eyes, I learn that I am black”.”I have blue eyes, I put all these new facts into the new girl”. This proves Rachel understands the labels/stereotypes are not always true but she does keep them in mind.
Another one would be smart people who are called, “nerds” who always get good grades and don't like to have fun and always care about school. On page 9 the teacher asks Rachel where she is from right after asking if she's present. Rachel then tells the teacher her whole address “I answer 4725 Northeast Cleveland Avenue, Portland, Oregon,97217, I hear laughter behind me”. The people behind Rachel are laughing because Rachel took the question literal and said her whole address or they could be laughing because they thought she was being a smart aleck. Rachel being new to the school she didn't know how to answer so she answered honest and is probably labeled by those kids behind her as a smart