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EDSOURCE: California Schools Face ‘Deep Trouble’ as Flooding Danger Looms

As heavy storms keep pounding California with torrential rains and a record Sierra snowpack is poised to melt and send rivers surging over their banks, more than a fifth of the state’s 10,000 K-12 schools are at a high or moderate risk of flooding, an analysis of federal data by EdSource shows.

Published

3 years ago

April 13, 2023

Oakland Post

Thomas Peele, Emma Gallegos, Daniel J. Willis, EdSource, heavy storms, California, torrential rains, Sierra snowpack, K-12 schools, flooding, federal data, Schools in flood-prone areas, weakened levees, Alameda, Merced, Monterey, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Tulare, San Joaquin, Central Valley Jeffrey Mount, geomorphologist, Public Policy Institute of California, flood and water management, small rural communities, snow, local communities, public agencies, school districts, southern Sierra, Department of Water Resources, Alpine County Unified School District, Bear Valley Elementary School, southern Central Valley, breached levees, Allensworth, Alpaugh, Visalia, Firebaugh, Mendota, western Fresno County, San Joaquin River, Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District, Superintendent Roy Mendiola, families, staff, evacuation, local residents, police department, Planada Elementary School District, Visalia Unified School District, Cristina Gutierrez, Visalia city officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulare County Superintendent of Schools Tim Hire, Carlos Molina, meteorologist, National Weather Service in Hanford, Yosemite, Lake Isabella, The Kern, The King, The San Joaquin, The Pajaro flood, Pajaro River, northern Monterey County, community of Pajaro, Homes, businesses, Pajaro Middle School, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Pajaro Unified School District Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, pandemic, Department of Education, National Weather Service, Abel Guillen, Tulare Basin, California schools, Alpine, Sutter, Yuma, Amador, Calaveras, San Francisco, floodways, floodplains, floodwaters, Los Angeles and Orange counties, The Mercury News, Santa Cruz County, Farshid Vahedifard, Mississippi State University, Memorial Day, Planada, Merced County community, Planada Elementary School, Federal and state officials, flood insurance, hydraulics, meteorology, Jeffrey Vincent, UC Berkeley's Center for Cities & Schools, Kern High School District, Lamont, Jack "Woody" Colvard, food, water, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, emergency response, earthquake, wildfires, heat waves, portable classrooms, Sunol Glenn Unified School District, Sinbad Creek, Superintendent Molleen Barnes, atmospheric river, torrential rains, Sinbad Creek

Schools in flood-prone areas, in some cases protected by aging, weakened levees with poor safety ratings, face possible floods similar to those that have already swept through schools in Alameda, Merced and Monterey counties this year, causing millions of dollars in damages, Federal Emergency Management Agency data shows.

By Thomas Peele, Emma Gallegos and Daniel J. Willis
EdSource

Flooding in the Tulare and the San Joaquin basins in the Central Valley in the months ahead “is inevitable,” Jeffrey Mount, a geomorphologist and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who studies flood and water management, told EdSource in an interview.

“We’re looking at a pretty epic spring in those places. We’re really going to see some considerable hardship in these small rural communities once this snow begins to melt,” he said. He urged local communities and public agencies like school districts to start planning now.

The snowpack in the southern Sierra measured Monday at more than 300% of what it normally is on April 1 of a given year, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The statewide average came in at 237% of normal.

So much snow has piled atop Alpine County Unified School District’s Bear Valley Elementary School, which sits at 7,000 feet elevation, that it’s been closed over fears the roof may cave in. Its seven students are attending classes at a local library.

“The fact is there is quite a lot of water in the water cannon that is pointed west in the Sierra. And these storms just keep loading it up,” Mount said.

Tulare County in the southern Central Valley, where flooding caused by breached levees soaked the unincorporated towns of Allensworth and Alpaugh last month, has the most schools in the state classified at high flood risk — 35 — according to FEMA data that was last updated in 2009.

Mount specifically singled out the cities of Visalia in Tulare County and Firebaugh and Mendota in western Fresno County as places that should expect to be hit hard.

“Mendota, Firebaugh, places like that are on the San Joaquin River and have schools within them, they’re in deep trouble,” Mount said.

Data show all six schools in the Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified School District are at high risk of flooding. Levees in the area have a safety rating of unsatisfactory, State Department of Water Resources records show. Those levees, built to prevent the overflow of rivers, are “in pretty bad shape. They’ve been severely neglected over the last 100 years, certainly in the last 50 years,” Mount said.

The school district is preparing staff, students and their families for the serious possibility of a flood. Superintendent Roy Mendiola has encouraged families and staff to prepare a “go bag” with their most important documents. In the event of an evacuation, students will be shuttled to a produce warehouse on high ground on the other side of town. The school district has the largest fleet of buses and vans in the region, so it also plans to help evacuate local residents.

Local agencies, including the city of Firebaugh and its police department, have been key partners in preparing for a potential disaster. Mendiola is getting more guidance from officials at Planada Elementary School District across the valley, which was recently damaged by flooding. But the state hasn’t stepped up with any sort of guidance about how to prepare, said Mendiola. Rather, he’s gotten emails about how to deal with damage in the aftermath of storms. “It wasn’t so much, ‘Here’s what you could do to prepare a plan for an emergency like that,'” said Mendiola.

In Tulare County on the eastern side of the valley, Visalia Unified School District, 38 of 42 schools are at high or moderate flooding danger, data show. Ten are at high risk. A district spokesperson, Cristina Gutierrez, declined to make officials available for an interview. In an email, she wrote that the district is in “constant touch” with Visalia city officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which monitors river levels.

Tulare County Superintendent of Schools Tim Hire said school officials in the county are “carefully watching and making decisions day by day” about how to proceed. “They all want students in the classroom, but only if it is safe.”

There is no question that floods will come, said Carlos Molina, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Melting snow will create double the amount of water leaving the mountains than reservoirs from Yosemite in the north to Lake Isabella in the south can hold at one time, he said.

Which rivers will flood? “Take your pick,” Molina said, rattling off names: The Kern. The King. The San Joaquin.

“They will be having problems from now until later this summer.”

The Pajaro flood

When a 75-year-old levee holding back the Pajaro River from the unincorporated northern Monterey County community of Pajaro ruptured March 11, floodwater poured into the center of the farming town. Homes, businesses, and Pajaro Middle School stood in its path. Water entered the school’s classrooms and submerged its grounds.

When State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond visited the school on March 24 some classrooms remained wet. Mud caked walkways inside and out.

Members of Thurmond’s staff wore knee boots as they toured the building. Pajaro Unified School District Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez said cleanup hadn’t started because insurance adjusters hadn’t completed their work. At that point, it was nearly two weeks since the flood and there were concerns mold would worsen the damage. Thurmond, standing before television cameras, called an executive of the school’s insurance company and left a voicemail urging the claim be expedited.

While praising relief workers and expressing concern for displaced families, at one point making a recorded statement to them in Spanish, Thurmond, a former member of the state Assembly, appeared to lack basic knowledge about the situation.

Asked at a news conference how many other schools in the state were prone to similar flooding as Pajaro Middle, he didn’t provide a number. Thurmond responded by describing the many threats schools face. “Before we were talking about floods, we were talking about wildfires, power-safety shut-offs and, of course, we’re still overcoming the impacts of a pandemic. Sadly, it’s become the new normal for there to be school disruption.”

In an email, Scott Roark, spokesperson, said the state Department of Education is in regular communication with other state agencies and the National Weather Service about school flooding risks.

The department recently alerted 500 districts on preparing for and dealing with flood hazards based on models developed by the state’s Department of Water Resources. The information was distributed through local county offices of education, said Abel Guillen, deputy superintendent of public instruction. Many schools on that list are in the Tulare Basin, which includes both Tulare and Kings counties. Schools on those lists are encouraged to update their emergency plans, check to see that they have flood insurance, inventory and photograph costly equipment, move computers from low-lying areas, begin sandbagging and strengthen contact with local emergency operations.

Overall, the FEMA data shows flood ratings for 10,628 California schools, some of them in shared buildings. Of those, 2,230 are identified with high or moderate flood risk. Of those, 398 are high risk of flooding. Another 383 are listed as having a possible flood risk, but there is not enough information to make a more exact estimate.

The risk to another 56 schools is listed as unknown because they are not covered in FEMA flood maps. All are in Alpine, Sutter and Yuma Counties. There are 7,958 schools identified as low-risk. In only three of the state’s 58 counties are all schools listed as low risk— Amador, Calaveras and San Francisco.

Data shows that some of the schools rated as high risk were built in floodways, or floodplains, or in locations where floodwaters are likely to pool. Others were built where floodwater is expected to flow across school grounds.

Of schools rated at moderate or high risk, data show 602 are marked as being at reduced risk because levees protect them. Most are in urban areas — nearly half are in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

In Pajaro, the middle school is listed by FEMA as being at high risk for flooding and being in a sheeting area where water would flow over the school property. That’s what happened when the nearby levee, which was built in 1949, breached March 11.

The flood was the fourth time the town flooded since then and local officials are bitterly complaining about a lack of maintenance on the levee. The river divides Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. The Mercury News reported March 26 that Santa Cruz County spent five times more money than Monterey County did on maintaining the levee on its side of the river over the past three years. The levee breached when the river was below flood stage.

When the record snowmelt hits rivers in the months ahead the state’s levees will be severely tested, said Farshid Vahedifard, a Mississippi State University engineering professor who has extensively studied California’s system of more than 21,000 kilometers of urban and nonurban levees. Many, he said, are aging earthen berms not meant to serve as critical infrastructure.

“I won’t be surprised if I see more failures,” he told EdSource.

Mount put it succinctly: “There are only two kinds of levees,” he said. “Those that have failed and those that will fail.”

They will be severely tested around Memorial Day, Mount said, as snowmelt overwhelms the water systems just when schools are letting out at the end of the academic year and preparing for summer sessions. The ability to use schools as emergency shelters and rally points could be impeded.

In the Southern Sierra, Mount predicted, the looming disaster is “going to last months and, it may take years to recover from.”

The filthiest water imaginable

When heavy rains on Jan. 9 caused a stream to flood and a levee to break in Planada, an unincorporated Merced County community, water naturally ran to the lowest points in town — including the grounds of Planada Elementary School built in 1955 below flood level. FEMA lists the school as a high flood risk and a “special flood hazard area” where water will pond with nowhere to go.

“The filthiest water imaginable” flooded the school, said Jose Gonzalez, superintendent of the Planada Elementary School District. “There were porta-potties floating throughout the community. There were dead rodents.”

Twenty-six first- through fifth-grade classrooms were lost. So were 4,000 books. Rebuild costs, including raising the site above the floodplain, is roughly $12 million. There’s no date for work to start.

School was closed for eight days until students could attend classes in another school in town that didn’t flood.

The floodwaters came fast, Gonzalez said. But it happened when school was closed. Had the same conditions occurred on a school day, “It would have been complete chaos,” he said.

The disaster wasn’t new for Gonzalez. The school also flooded during a 2018 storm.

“They said (2018) was a 100-year flood,” Gonzalez said. Federal and state officials told him,'”Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen again,”‘ he said. “Five years later here we are.”

In 2018 the district didn’t have flood insurance. But it was able to join a joint-powers authority of other small districts to buy insurance that covered the January damage. Litigation over the levee breach is likely, he said.

The district has a soccer field and track nearby. Gonzalez said it may be lowered “with the field at the bottom with the track around the top” to serve as a “ponding basin” where floodwater could be diverted. He’s had to learn about water rights, hydraulics and meteorology — things “they don’t teach you in superintendents’ school.”

“Any time there’s a light rain I drive out to check the creek,” he said. “It’s just part of the routine.”

For decades schools in California could be built anywhere where a local district could find and afford land. If that means in the floodplain of the Pajaro River or the lowlands of Planada, then that’s where they were built.

“Finding land for new schools isn’t easy. It’s only getting harder as the cost of land increases,” said Jeffrey Vincent, of UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities & Schools. “It’s not like they get the pick of the litter.”

School boards can override other local agencies on land use decisions, putting schools wherever they can acquire land.

But one district in 2018 decided not to build in a floodplain.

The Kern High School District declined to build a new school in a floodplain to serve the unincorporated town of Lamont, said Jack “Woody” Colvard, a facilities management consultant for the Kern County superintendent of schools. He previously worked for the Kern High School District, which considered several options that would allow the school to be built in Lamont, but none of them were practical.

One idea was to buy 180 acres for a 120-acre campus — the other 60 acres would provide dirt that would allow the campus to be raised above the floodplain. Just the grading alone on a project like that would run $5 million. It also considered building canals that would allow floodwaters to move around the school, Colvard said.

These options would turn the school into an “island.” That’s a problem because schools shouldn’t merely be safe in an emergency, Colvard said, they should also be accessible places for the community to find food, water and other crucial resources at such times.

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, notes that the state treats schools as the “backbone” of emergency response efforts in the event of an earthquake. As the Legislature crafts another state bond measure for school facilities, there have been discussions about how California can also prepare school facilities for the effects of climate changes that have increased the risk of wildfires, heat waves and flooding.

“We’ve been having ongoing discussions about how the bond should acknowledge the realities of climate change,” he said.

One provision that may be added to the bond measure would authorize the state to acquire portable classrooms so that schools can have them quickly in the event of a disaster.

But even a school labeled by FEMA to be a low flooding risk has suffered from a recent major flood.

The tiny Sunol Glenn Unified School District nestled in the hills of eastern Alameda County has one school. A stream, Sinbad Creek runs behind it. Superintendent Molleen Barnes said she never really gave the creek much thought, other than asking local officials to clear out some branches that had gotten stuck under a nearby bridge that passed over it.

The creek usually “ran at a trickle” at a depth of 15 to 17 inches, she said.

Then the night of Dec. 31 and into New Year’s Day, Barnes started getting texts from parents telling her the school grounds were flooding. As an atmospheric river unleashed torrential rains, Sinbad Creek had jumped its banks, surging to 24 feet. The branches under the bridge hadn’t been cleaned out.

“Of course, we’d been in a drought and this hadn’t been on our radar,” Barnes told EdSource. When the water receded the school grounds were covered in 18 inches of mud. Three modular classrooms were knocked off their foundations. Fences toppled. A classroom and an office were damaged. The entire building had to be assessed for mold.

The district didn’t have flood insurance. The damage was estimated at about $1.8 million, Barnes said.

“The school’s 100 years old and it never flooded, “Barnes said. “This isn’t something we’d even thought about.

“Until now.”

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What the insurance industry sees when it looks at your home

Find out what criteria the insurance industry uses when looking at your home. Learn insider tips and how to ensure your home is fully covered.

Published

5 hours ago

July 19, 2026

bpusa-syndication

What the insurance industry sees when it looks at your home is why its replacement cost matters more than its market value, and that home upgrades can improve protection or increase coverage needs. Your property’s location also affects more than just your premium; insurers consider how well you maintain your home, too.

The Pew Research Center reports that 71% of American homeowners say their home insurance costs have gone up. Increasing costs can be a huge financial burden, so finding ways to reduce them can provide much-needed relief.

The insurance industry is huge, and they’ve got experience handling property insurance evaluation processes. As a homeowner, you may feel hopeless at times when fighting these giants.

What Does the Insurance Industry See When It Looks at Your Home?

When assessing home insurance, keep in mind that insurers want to protect their bottom line. These are the insurance coverage factors they weigh.

Why Your Home’s Replacement Cost Matters More Than Its Market Value

When homeowners get home insurance, they assume their policy should match what their house could sell for, but insurers evaluate something entirely different: replacement cost. This is the estimated cost to rebuild the home after a total loss, using today’s labor rates and material prices.

Construction costs can rise rapidly due to:

Inflation
Local labor shortages
Changes in building codes

Insurers also consider the property’s size, layout, roofing materials, custom features, and overall complexity.

Home Upgrades Can Improve Protection or Increase Coverage Needs

Not every renovation affects insurance in the same way. Some upgrades reduce risk, but others increase the home’s rebuilding cost or create additional liabilities.

These installations may lower the chances of future claims:

New electrical system
Impact-resistant roof
Modern plumbing

These can increase the amount of insurance needed:

Luxury finishes
Custom cabinetry
Solar panels
Detached workshop

Even seemingly minor projects can change your house’s insured value, so keep records of permits, contractor invoices, and before-and-after photos whenever you make home improvements. Sharing these documents with your insurer allows coverage limits to be updated before a loss happens.

Your Property’s Location Influences More Than Just Your Premium

Insurance companies examine more than just your house; they also assess where it’s located. These factors all influence how they evaluate a property:

Local weather patterns
Wildfire exposure
Hail frequency
Hurricane risk
Crime statistics
Proximity of fire departments

Homeowners obviously can’t change their location, but they can often reduce risk through proactive measures, such as:

Trimming trees away from the house
Installing storm shutters where appropriate
Improving exterior lighting
Reinforcing vulnerable entry points

You should also understand the environmental risks specific to your area. This can help you determine whether optional endorsements or separate policies are worthwhile.

Insurers Also Consider How Well You Maintain Your Home

Your home’s overall condition can influence both insurability and long-term coverage options. Insurers often look at the age and condition of major systems, such as:

The roof
HVAC equipment
Plumbing
Electrical components

Deferred maintenance can increase the risk of water intrusion and structural issues, and this is concerning for insurers. To mitigate this, have routine inspections, replace aging components before they fail, and keep maintenance records. It’s also wise to create a home inventory with photos or videos of valuable belongings and update it annually.

What Are Red Flags for Insurance Companies?

Insurance companies look for home risk factors that suggest a higher likelihood of future claims or increased repair costs. Common red flags include:

A history of frequent insurance claims
Lapses in coverage
Unpermitted renovations
Outdated building systems that have exceeded their expected service life

Visible structural issues, poor drainage, or safety hazards may also raise concerns during underwriting or policy renewal.

In addition, discrepancies between the information provided on an application and the property’s actual condition can lead to delays or additional review. You can avoid this by keeping accurate records of repairs, obtaining permits for major projects, addressing maintenance issues promptly, and notifying your insurer when you complete significant improvements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are the 5 Cs of Insurance?

The five Cs of insurance explain the key principles that help homeowners choose and maintain the right coverage. Organizations define them slightly differently, but they are generally:

Coverage: Types of losses your policy protects against, such as fire, wind, or theft
Cost: Includes premiums, deductibles, and any discounts you may qualify for
Claims: Measures how efficiently an insurer handles damage reports and payouts
Customer service: Reflects the company’s responsiveness and support throughout the policy period
Credibility: Considers the insurer’s financial strength, licensing, and reputation for paying valid claims

Evaluating all five factors provides a more complete picture than simply choosing the lowest premium.

What Not To Tell Your Insurance Company?

When you’re filing a homeowners insurance claim, it’s important to provide truthful and accurate information without making assumptions or speculative statements. You should avoid guessing about the cause of damage if it hasn’t yet been determined, as investigations may reveal different findings.

Don’t exaggerate repair costs or claim damaged property that wasn’t actually affected, either. Inaccurate information can delay processing or even result in claim denial.

You should instead document the damage with photos and save receipts for emergency repairs. You should also answer questions based on facts you know firsthand.

What Is the Most Common Damage to Your Home That Insurance Does Not Cover?

One of the most common forms of home damage not covered by standard homeowners insurance is flood damage resulting from rising water outside the home. These things typically require a separate flood insurance policy:

Heavy rainfall
Overflowing rivers
Storm surge
Flash flooding

Other frequently excluded things are damage caused by:

Gradual wear and tear
Deferred maintenance
Mold resulting from long-term leaks
Pest infestations
Foundation settling due to normal aging

This Is What the Insurance Industry Looks For

Getting home insurance can be daunting, especially if you have an older property. By knowing what the insurance industry looks for, though, you can address the red flags and up your chances of getting better coverage at lower prices.

Keep reading our site to see more informative articles.

bpusa-syndication

Posts by bpusa-syndication

Business

What the insurance industry sees when it looks at your home

Find out what criteria the insurance industry uses when looking at your home. Learn insider tips and how to ensure your home is fully covered.

Published

5 hours ago

July 19, 2026

bpusa-syndication

The insurance industry is huge, and they’ve got experience handling property insurance evaluation processes. As a homeowner, you may feel hopeless at times when fighting these giants.

What Does the Insurance Industry See When It Looks at Your Home?

When assessing home insurance, keep in mind that insurers want to protect their bottom line. These are the insurance coverage factors they weigh.

Why Your Home’s Replacement Cost Matters More Than Its Market Value

Construction costs can rise rapidly due to:

Inflation
Local labor shortages
Changes in building codes

Insurers also consider the property’s size, layout, roofing materials, custom features, and overall complexity.

Home Upgrades Can Improve Protection or Increase Coverage Needs

Not every renovation affects insurance in the same way. Some upgrades reduce risk, but others increase the home’s rebuilding cost or create additional liabilities.

These installations may lower the chances of future claims:

New electrical system
Impact-resistant roof
Modern plumbing

These can increase the amount of insurance needed:

Luxury finishes
Custom cabinetry
Solar panels
Detached workshop

Your Property’s Location Influences More Than Just Your Premium

Insurance companies examine more than just your house; they also assess where it’s located. These factors all influence how they evaluate a property:

Local weather patterns
Wildfire exposure
Hail frequency
Hurricane risk
Crime statistics
Proximity of fire departments

Homeowners obviously can’t change their location, but they can often reduce risk through proactive measures, such as:

Trimming trees away from the house
Installing storm shutters where appropriate
Improving exterior lighting
Reinforcing vulnerable entry points

You should also understand the environmental risks specific to your area. This can help you determine whether optional endorsements or separate policies are worthwhile.

Insurers Also Consider How Well You Maintain Your Home

Your home’s overall condition can influence both insurability and long-term coverage options. Insurers often look at the age and condition of major systems, such as:

The roof
HVAC equipment
Plumbing
Electrical components

What Are Red Flags for Insurance Companies?

Insurance companies look for home risk factors that suggest a higher likelihood of future claims or increased repair costs. Common red flags include:

A history of frequent insurance claims
Lapses in coverage
Unpermitted renovations
Outdated building systems that have exceeded their expected service life

Visible structural issues, poor drainage, or safety hazards may also raise concerns during underwriting or policy renewal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are the 5 Cs of Insurance?

The five Cs of insurance explain the key principles that help homeowners choose and maintain the right coverage. Organizations define them slightly differently, but they are generally:

Coverage: Types of losses your policy protects against, such as fire, wind, or theft
Cost: Includes premiums, deductibles, and any discounts you may qualify for
Claims: Measures how efficiently an insurer handles damage reports and payouts
Customer service: Reflects the company’s responsiveness and support throughout the policy period
Credibility: Considers the insurer’s financial strength, licensing, and reputation for paying valid claims

Evaluating all five factors provides a more complete picture than simply choosing the lowest premium.

What Not To Tell Your Insurance Company?

Don’t exaggerate repair costs or claim damaged property that wasn’t actually affected, either. Inaccurate information can delay processing or even result in claim denial.

You should instead document the damage with photos and save receipts for emergency repairs. You should also answer questions based on facts you know firsthand.

What Is the Most Common Damage to Your Home That Insurance Does Not Cover?

Heavy rainfall
Overflowing rivers
Storm surge
Flash flooding

Other frequently excluded things are damage caused by:

Gradual wear and tear
Deferred maintenance
Mold resulting from long-term leaks
Pest infestations
Foundation settling due to normal aging

This Is What the Insurance Industry Looks For

Keep reading our site to see more informative articles.

bpusa-syndication

Posts by bpusa-syndication

Art

BOOK REVIEW: Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl: Essays

Growing up in North Carolina, she Black Girled her hair her entire life. Her grandma made her sit for box braids when she was small, telling Brown that she was “tenderheaded.” Later, Brown had relaxed hair until she “went broke” and couldn’t afford the process anymore. That was when she got acquainted with her natural hair – although she returned to box braids at least once, and loved them all over again.

Published

6 hours ago

July 19, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Author: Amena Brown, Copyright: c.2026, Publisher: Tiny Rep Books, SRP: $30.00, Page Count: 320 pages

Some things can really make you cross.

People telling you your business, for instance. People asking questions they have no reason to know the answers to. Folks who criticize your hair or clothes or life. These things would set anyone off; they’d be the last straw for anybody. As in the new book, “Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl” by Amena Brown, some folks just cross the line.

In a way, it’s a matter of grammar.

Depending on how you say it, “Black Girl is a noun and a verb,” says Brown. A Black Girl can be a Black Girl… and she can Black Girl. Brown herself has done it “in six countries.”

As the child of a strict Pentecostal mother, Brown was a “late bloomer.” She didn’t drink alcohol until she was in her twenties. She was chaste while dating and a better church girl than a party girl. After she left the church, she began experimenting with wine first, then cocktails. She learned to cook, reasoning that the path to finding love started in a kitchen, one that happened to be her grandmother’s. And yes, love did eventually come in the form of a red-headed White man who was her friend before he became her boyfriend — and before he became her mother-sanctioned, grandma-approved husband.

Overall, says Brown, there is no single right method for doing this.

“There are so many ways to Black Girl, which means the way you Black Girl is beautiful, and the way I Black Girl is beautiful too.”

Looking for a collection of addictive, can’t-read-just-one essays that’ll make you laugh but that also feel like author Amena Brown is peeking at your life? Want a book that speaks to every corner of your existence?

Yeah, then you want “Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl.”

You know how it is when you spot something so profound, so right, that you just have to call your friends and read it out loud to them? That’s what you’ll find here: truth told with humor that’s also oozing with warmth. Add honesty that’s smart and bold and practically begging for a “Heck, YES!” and you’ve got your new favorite book.

The essays here are short enough to read in a few minutes, but compelling enough to make you want more, so give yourself room.

This is a book for twenty- and thirty-somethings, but also for their mothers and grandmas who can handle respectful irreverence and surefooted playfulness. Can men enjoy “Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl”? Sure, but it’s more for women, cross your heart.