*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Rhythm & Muse by India Hill Brown is a predictable young adult romance novel giving us the perspective of the boy pining for the popular girl he has a crush on.
Darren likes Delia Dawson, the popular girl at his school known as Dillie who has her own podcast Dillie D in the Place to Be. He has Delia Daydreams, in which his best friend Justin always keeps shaking him out of. One day, Justin gets to spend time with his wannabe rapper cousin in a recording studio session. Darren tags along though he knows Justin’s cousin doesn’t have the rhythmic talent necessary to be a decent rapper. While in the studio, after listening to awful raps, Darren and Justin perk up to the cousin’s beats. Justin pushes Darren to sing on the beat for fun. Darren used to sing in the choir, but a mortifying experience made him drop out of choir and put his music dreams on hold. But he sings anyway – about Delia. Coincidentally, Delia’s podcast is running a competition for a new jingle. Somehow the track Darren recorded was submitted anonymously. As podcast listeners groove to Darren’s track, he can’t let anyone know he recorded it, especially Delia. He realizes they attend the same church, though he hadn’t been there in a while. He joins Delia on an all-night church sleepover where they bond over 90s R&B and their suspicions on the anonymous song that’s growing in popularity. While Darren gets closer to his dream girl, he second-guesses every move until Delia makes him more comfortable in the moment. When Delia announces the winning song of the competition, Darren knows it’s his chance to tell her the truth. But he still second-guesses telling her the truth, which endangers the relationship they are trying to build.
First, Darren’s obsession with Delia makes him a boring character. Yes, he sings, but the reason why he stopped is weak, and it is built up too much throughout the story to be that weak. The incident that has taken him away from music also has decreased his desire for college, in which he is working with a high school counselor. His second-guessing with Delia eliminates tension between the characters too quickly. He already has the girl the minute they click, which makes for a predictable ending. Other issues like his parents being married and in love and having simple dialogue adds to the boringness in the family of characters. Not saying we need a divorce, but the parents didn’t add enough tension to the situation. His love for 90s R&B could be a questionable decision since today’s teens are most likely listening to contemporary artists. Though it’s talked about how his parents taught him to love 90s R&B, it comes off as inauthentic with a music-obsessed teen not aligning himself more with music topping the charts now.
Overall, this young adult debut reads on the bland side with the unexciting characters and developments. It seems like a safe choice in YA literature as the genre continues to be battered by the banned books movement. The entire point of a romance novel is to reach the happily-ever-after, but when the main character’s personality is too tied to the person they want to be with and the tension falls apart too quickly, the story becomes less entertaining.
*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi follows the daughter of a Black revolutionary in Philadelphia trying to fulfill her mother’s wish for her to have a normal life.
Sixteen-year-old Nigeria is the daughter of Kofi Sankofa, an activist who has built his identity and his community around uplifting people in the African diaspora with his pro-African beliefs. Nigeria has always been in his shadow as his warrior princess who can practice shooting guns under the protection of the Second Amendment and organize the youth who seek guidance in their community household. She also takes care of her 1-year-old brother Freedom.
With her mother missing, Nigeria takes it upon herself to be that motherly figure to Freedom while trying to find answers of why her mother is no longer around. Her mother’s friend KD, a White woman, tells Nigeria that her mother wanted her to attend the Philadelphia Friends School, a Quaker high school. It’s the same school KD’s daughter Sage, who is biracial, attends. And Sage and Nigeria used to be close, but Kofi has driven a wedge between the families, not wanting someone White in his circle who could allegedly taint his daughter’s mind. Nigeria has been homeschooled her whole life with her education focusing on the African diaspora rather than European history taught in American schools. But if Nigeria’s mother wanted her daughter to go to school, then what is the problem?
While still upholding her responsibilities, Nigeria wanders into the high school her mother had hopes she would attend. At Philly Friends, she follows Sage and her cousin, Kamau, through hallways and in classrooms struggling to find the balance between her tailored education at home and the one presented to her at a predominantly White school. Her new environment welcomes new opportunities, like getting involved in the diversity, equity, and inclusion club and practicing for debate club with a White boy named Liam, who seems to understand Nigeria better than she thought he would. As she battles her father in attending the school, she finds herself tracing the events that led to her mother’s disappearance. Since it was her mother who registered her for the previous school year before she faded out of the picture, Nigeria feels she needs to better understand her mother’s whereabouts in order to accept the new life she envisions for herself.
The story touches on eldest daughter syndrome, a branch of the birth order theory that has taken over the internet. The eldest daughters are usually the ones with the most responsibility and the ones who receive the most blame. Nigeria is experiencing this phenomenon while also coming out of being the only child for 15 years. Though her father treats her as his version of the apple of his eye, Kofi smothers any chance for Nigeria to find her own path under his roof. She supports his teachings while not quite understanding the world outside her home. The father-daughter dynamic pushes Nigeria to seek her own world because her mother is no longer there to soften the blow of any tension between her and her father. Most teenagers are finding themselves around 16, but Nigeria’s journey feels more complicated without her mother and knowing that her mother had other plans for their lives.
Overall, the conflict between Nigeria and the Movement she grew up in makes this young adult novel more layered. The main character is a teenager who really hasn’t experienced the real world with being tied to a community house where she is homeschooled. She is striving to do something most kids her age already do: attend school, especially attend an excellent high school in order to attend an excellent university. But we see all these factors at home weighing her down to the point she doesn’t know how to escape, or she escapes with guilt. It’s a heavier read with the blend of racial and social justice elements that come up throughout the story, but it speaks to the teenage girl who feels like she is unable to think for herself because her life is being controlled at every turn.
The Black Girls Left Standing by Juliana Goodman leans on the grittiness to tell the story of a Black girl living in the Chicago projects searching for why her unarmed sister was killed outside the home of a police officer.
Sixteen-year-old Beau Willet is trying to overcome the disbelief of attending her older sister Katia’s funeral. She wears a memorial sweatshirt in honor of her 22-year-old sister, who was killed by a single gunshot wound to the face fired by an off-duty police officer outside of his home in the middle of the night. Katia was accused of planning to rob the home, but Beau doesn’t accept that narrative. She depends on her friend Deja to help her figure out what happened to Katia, who was with her boyfriend Jordan at the time of the killing. Except Jordan has been missing since Katia’s death, and he is the only person who could clear Katia’s name.
I should be crying, too, but I can’t for some reason. It’s like my ducts are all blocked up and the tears are dripping down my insides instead of my cheeks. Katia, why didn’t you just stay home with me instead?
Beau knows the police department and the city will not investigate her sister’s killing fairly because she’s Black, her sister was Black, and they’re from the impoverished Grady Park neighborhood where Black people get killed all the time. Katia’s death is in the news cycle for what feels like a second until the rest of the city moves on and feels sympathy for the police officer and his family instead of Beau and her family. To get the answers she needs, Beau is determined to find Jordan. She feels alone in her quest when it comes to her family, her parents too depressed to push for more answers while trying to keep the roof over their heads. Deja seems occupied in a new relationship to help Beau solve the crime, and Beau feels guilty pulling Deja into her web of grief. While she’s looking for Jordan, Beau finds herself falling for Champion, a boy she goes to school with though he lives in a McMansion in the affluent Purple Hills neighborhood.
Everything’s all screwed up between me and Champion because I’m the girl with the murdered sister. Neither of us says it, but if he asked me to be his girl now, everyone would think it’s because he feels sorry for me.
As Beau and Champion become more than friends, Beau finds herself and her friends engaging in petty fights with girls and guys in Grady Park who may or may not know what really happened to Katia. Nobody is snitching. Then Beau gets an anonymous tip that Jordan is in her apartment building complex. At first, she doesn’t believe that rumor because she knows everyone in the complex and hasn’t seen anything amiss; she swears she would’ve noticed Jordan by now, better yet someone would’ve been loyal to her and told her about his whereabouts.
While Deja seems to fade into her relationship, Beau taps Sonnet, another friend who uses her Pretty Little Liars knowledge to play detective. Sonnet lives a life more similar to Champion’s, so Beau feels immense pressure to protect Sonnet and herself. The guilt of Beau’s grief ebbs and flows as she leans on the friends not used to the atmosphere of the projects she lives in. The deeper they get into their investigation, the higher the stakes are. Blindly, Beau follows every clue until she finds herself in trouble to the point she may meet the same fate Katia did.
Being inside Beau’s mind from the first-person perspective is incredible as she pushes aside the grief and depression of losing her sister while looking for answers for why her sister died at the hands of a gun fired by an off-duty police officer. Why was Katia outside this officer’s home at 4 a.m. with Jordan? Why did Jordan disappear? The questions resound throughout the pages as Beau tries to unwrap the mystery in her crime-ridden neighborhood where asking such questions about why someone was killed could get you killed. When Beau is in the bedroom she shared with Katia, the gloom overwhelms her as she looks through her sister’s belongings for any clues, but she only finds what could’ve been Katia’s destiny. The plans for the future seem to be the only clues Katia left behind, and it strengthens Beau more in doing the work the police won’t do.
Overall, this young adult novel stands out with the reality of being a Black kid in the inner city and feeling like you, anyone who looks like you, and anyone you love doesn’t matter. Beau knows her sister’s killing will never get a fair investigation because Katia was accused of burglarizing a police officer’s home. But she knows her sister wouldn’t commit such an act, so she’s the only one who could stand up for Katia. Beau and her friends are the Black girls left standing who have to stand up for the Black girls who don’t make it out of places like Grady Park. In the audiobook version, narrator Ariel Blake does a fantastic job of conveying the sadness and determination in Beau’s voice. Out of similar works such as Angie Thomas’ books set in the similar fictional neighborhood of Garden Heights in The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose, Juliana Goodman’s debut novel makes a splash in the subgenre of social justice YA with digging into the mental health aspect of showing the tumultuous journey of the teenage main character struggling with how society paints girls like her, including her dead sister, and trying to prove that they deserve to be seen like any other girls.
*Given a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Zyla & Kaiby Kristina Forest is a young adult romance bringing together two teens who think they are too different but find enough common ground to develop a relationship that always seems threatened by outside factors.
The story starts with the title characters going missing from a school ski trip, but it really starts the summer before where the two are lowly amusement park employees trying to earn extra cash for college.
Hezekiah “Kai” Johnson is working at Sailor Joe’s Amusement Park over the summer when he and his on-and-off-again girlfriend Camille start arguing in front of customers. Camille approaches Kai over his alleged flirtatious behavior with other girls on the job. Kai denies the allegations, but the hullabaloo has almost cost them their jobs. Once Kai gets home to Aunt Brenda and Uncle Steve, they tell him he needs to swear off girls until he graduates high school and matriculates at the family alma mater Morehouse College, the historically Black men’s college in Atlanta. His father and Uncle Steve are college alumni while his mother and Aunt Brenda attended the Black women’s college next door, Spelman College. The dream to continue the HBCU legacy keeps Kai motivated, especially since he lost both of his parents in a car accident. Even when he catches up with his therapist, he doesn’t seem to understand why he keeps getting entangled with the wrong girls.
Zyla Matthews is the opposite. She’s afraid to commit to any relationships. Her mother constantly curling herself up in a ball and crying over her latest boyfriend is enough relationship drama for Zyla to handle. Since Zyla, her mother, and her sister live with her great-aunt, Zyla wants to add more money to her college stash. She has her eyes on fashion school in Paris. So, she’s spending her summer at Sailor Joe’s. When a rowdy customer threatens Zyla at a booth, Kai inadvertently comes to the rescue.
Sparks fly between the two employees even as summer fades and they attend their separate schools. Morning text message exchanges kindle the flame. Once Zyla and Kai start getting serious, they fret over introducing each other to their respective guardians. Kai’s uncle and aunt had already banned him from dating while Zyla’s mother and great-aunt have track records of making mistakes with men.
Despite their families’ reactions to their budding romance, they get the blessing to continue seeing each other. Zyla goes to parties with students who go to school with Kai, including his trail of ex-girlfriends. This worries Zyla, who has never been in a relationship and fears she’ll get hurt like her mother does every other week. Kai, who’s still battling the overwhelming grief of losing his parents suddenly, tries to reassure her that he only has eyes for her. Then on Valentine’s Day, when they shed all their insecurities, the night is ruined to the point they have to face their fears again about their relationship.
What stands out in this book is how both characters are dealing with their inner demons and letting those demons get in the way of their relationship. With Kai growing up without his parents and Zyla still facing the post-divorce reality within her family, they are trying to figure out how to define love for themselves. The hormones are telling them one thing, but their brains are forcing them to think further on their gravitational pull. Kai is known as a player when in actuality he’s looking for love in all the wrong places. He tries to live down his reputation as Zyla becomes insecure about being thought of as another one of Kai’s girlfriends, mainly when they’re around Kai’s crew.
The family dynamics also play a large role in the story. Kai is close to Uncle Steve and Aunt Brenda, but he feels he is failing at being his best for them. They’re the ones who took him in when he became an orphan, so he feels he’s letting them down when he prematurely commits to his promise of not dating any more girls. In the beginning of the book, we see Zyla comforting her mother in the car after another breakup. Zyla is the one who lets her mother rest in the backseat and drives them to their destination. She has to be mature beyond her years for herself and her younger sister Jade since her mother doesn’t have it together and that’s why they live with Aunt Ida, a curmudgeon always muttering about how bad men are.
If you’re interested in reading the audiobook, narrator Tashi Thomas does a fantastic job of switching up the characters’ voices. When she returns to the story narration, sometimes her voice comes off as mechanical, but the audio recording is a smooth listen.
Overall, this YA romance dives deep into how family dynamics can interweave into a blossoming relationship. The mental health aspect ties into the family dynamics as we see Kai attending therapist sessions that contribute to his character development of trying to be more self-aware about his relationships. Zyla, an aspiring fashion designer, uses retail therapy as her outlet instead finding pieces at the thrift store to create her own designs. They are teenagers looking for ways to cope with their environments, and once they bond together, they start to question their stability as a unit and as individuals. The ups and downs to get to the happily-ever-after feels like a pleasant ride on the Ferris wheel.
Fantasy young adult author J. Elle is marking the end of her Wings of Ebony duology about a Black teen girl from Houston who’s on a mission to understand her bloodline in the magical land of Ghizon.
Ashes of Gold, published by Denene Millner Books and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, came out last month continuing the story of Rue, raised in Houston with her younger sister by their late mother, who must follow her destiny in her father’s homeland of Ghizon and save her magic-possessing people from destruction.
Photo credit: Chris Spicks Photography
But readers don’t have to wait long to read more of J. Elle’s work. Her middle grade fantasy YA duology, A Taste of Magic, will be published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books this summer.
The first book in the series will introduce us to 12-year-old Kyana, a Black girl who’s recently learned she’s a witch and becomes a student at the Park Row Magic Academy hidden behind a beauty shop. Once she realizes redistricting and gentrification will close the shop, she fights to keep it open.
J. Elle talks to she lit about anticipating the debut of her middle grade duology, owning the “inner city fantasy” subgenre in the increasingly diverse fantasy YA genre, and transitioning from a teacher whose book pitch was discovered by literary agents on Twitter to teaching books she’s written in the classroom. Check out the conversation below:
she lit: Your YA duology features Rue, a Black girl from Houston’s Third Ward, who travels to the magical land of Ghizon to fulfill her birthright. How did you come up with the subgenre of an “inner-city fantasy” and what inspired you to make this character bicultural struggling to exist between two worlds?
J. Elle: The aesthetic of the story honestly came to me as I tried to make a fantasy world I could see myself in. I wanted to craft a world that felt familiar to me and I grew up in an inner city community. I found when I left my community to attend college, the first in my family to do so, and get a job or move to other parts of the country, I felt like I was in an entirely different world sometimes. I wanted to parallel that dichotomy in this story and explore the many ways Black Americans might feel like they’re forced to live a double life when they’re in spaces that aren’t inclusive.
she lit: You’ve said Rue’s background has elements of your own. Without giving spoilers, is there a scene in Ashes of Gold that you wrote based on a particular experience?
J. Elle: Most of Ashes of Gold takes place on the magical island of Ghizon, but there is a moment in the book where Rue returns to East Row that is reminiscent of how it felt when I’d come home from college. It was nostalgic and quite special to be able to explore the ways being able to connect with home is an affirming experience.
she lit: How would you describe Rue’s character development in Ashes of Gold compared to Wings of Ebony?
J. Elle: Rue’s view of herself changes from the start of Ashes to the end. She has a definitive assumption about what she is capable of and the journey she goes on shows her she is capable of—and worthy of—much more than she thinks. It was a challenging book to write because book one, Wings of Ebony, leaves off with Rue seemingly unstoppable. But she had plenty of room to still grow. I just had to dig in to find it.
she lit: In both books, Rue has a longing to protect her Houston family and her fellow Ghizonis. What do young readers usually tell you about how they relate to this balance of supporting family and community?
J. Elle: I’ve had readers tell me the idea of not wanting to let family down really resonated with them. So many of us carry the pressures of supporting those who came before us. I was really glad to hear readers were able to see their lived experiences reflected here.
she lit: How would you describe the transition of being a teacher then becoming an author who is teaching through your books?
J. Elle: It was really interesting! I miss the way I could read kids’ faces as I stood in front of them teaching a concept. I loved seeing the light bulb click, hearing their opinions. When I write books, I’m sending my words out in the world for students to consume on their own. And so I miss hearing from them! Seeing their faces as they read! I try to do as many school visits as I can because I just love working with students so much.
she lit: With your passion in creating characters that kids can relate to, what are your concerns about more and more diverse YA books, many by Black authors, being banned from schools and libraries across the country?
J. Elle: Book banning is deeply grieving. When has the government trying to control the narrative of history taught in school ever gone well? Creating freethinkers is the purpose of education. Students who can reason and analyze and interpret with the rich perspective they bring to the table. The beauty of this country is “supposed to be” its freedom of ideas. But that grates against the actual picture of what’s happening with book banning all over the country. I am consoled, however, knowing that books in schools are only one way kids access books. I am hoping to see communities band together to exercise their constitutional right to read whatever they choose. There’s much more I could say here, but I’ll wrap up by offering this small encouragement: I believe in our kids. I believe in the relentless persistence of their curiosity, the connectedness they cling to nowadays via social media, and their spirit, their heart. Tell a kid in school something is forbidden, they’re only going to want it more. The banners will fail. Look at history.
she lit: What’s it like working with accomplished author and editor Denene Millner and having your duology under her imprint?
J. Elle: It was a true privilege to work with Denene. She brought such a needed eye to my story and helped me contextualize the themes I wanted to explore with the nuance I needed. I’ll forever be grateful for her seeing me in her inbox and saying, yes. It changed my life.
she lit: Your book series was discovered through the literary pitch competition #DVPit. What do you think was the secret sauce that made your successful tweet stand out for agents?
J. Elle: Strong comparison titles and a fresh hook help pitches stand out. My comps were The Hate U Givemeets Wonder Woman, which aesthetically is incredibly fresh. There’s no guarantee with contests of course and what’s “fresh” is a bit nebulous at times to figure out. But running a pitch by a few people who don’t know what the story about can be a fun way to see if your tweet feels fresh and engaging.
she lit: You’re promoting Ashes of Gold and the end of the Wings of Ebony duology. What can you reveal about your next duology, A Taste of Magic, and how does the Park Row Magic Academy compare to Ghizon?
J. Elle: A Taste of Magic is about 12-year-old Kyana who must cook up some magic to save her magic school from the effects of gentrification. It’s a delightful middle grade story so the biggest difference is the age range and tone. Tonally it’s much more lighthearted and funny than Wings of Ebony. My YA tends to be a bit grittier and dark. A Taste of Magic is for any age, but I’ve tried to target 9-12 year olds with Kyana’s voice and sensibilities. I’m so excited for readers to meet Kyana!
In social media posts over the last week, the author drops other details such as actress Sanaa Lathan assuming her first stint as a feature film director. The film stars Jamila C. Gray as the main character Bri, a rising rapper trying to follow in her late father’s footsteps career-wise as her family battles eviction and deals with the aftermath of a traumatic school incident. Bri’s best friends Malik and Sonny will be played by Michael Cooper Jr. and Miles Gutierrez Riley, respectively.
The script is written by Kay Oyegun, who is no stranger to book-to-film projects with also penning episodes for Queen Sugar based on Natalie Baszile‘s novel of the same name and the screenplay for the upcoming Children of Blood and Bone from the debut novel of the young adult fantasy saga by Tomi Adeyemi. Varietyreports that rappers Lil Yachty and GaTa are also a part of the cast.
According to Angie’s social media feeds, the project is being filmed in Atlanta.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna is a heavy fantasy young adult novel that forces the main character to face her blood, sweat, and tears for a war she’s not sure she should be fighting in.
Deka lives in the village of Irfut inside a kingdom called Otera with her sickly father as she lost her mother recently to red pox. While taking care of her father and the household, she is apprehensive about the forthcoming Ritual of Purity that expels girls who bleed gold instead of red from society. At the ceremony, Deka’s worst nightmare comes true: she is impure. She is thrown into a dungeon where she is killed several times. But she doesn’t die. She falls into a gilded sleep until she awakes repaired without a scar in sight. Her immortality attracts a woman Deka dubs as White Hands, who whisks Deka away with another girl named Britta to a training ground where other young women, known as alaki, who also bled impure are trained to fight flying demons known as deathshrieks. Accepting this journey as her destiny, she trains as hard as she can to fight the deathshrieks, who are known to destroy whole villages, killing everyone in sight. The better the fighter Deka becomes, the more she questions how she became a fighter. When one of her new sisters in training dies in battle, she promises to avenge the killing. But she starts wondering if the deathshrieks are as dangerous as she has been taught to believe.
The storyline emphasizes the impurity girls can be accused of, particularly around the time they begin menstruating. The girls are declared not only discardable but also devilish, another accusation real-life girls face rooted in the story of Eve. Throughout the book, Deka still prays to her god, Oyomo, despite the cards she has been dealt. Others around her tell her she shouldn’t pray because she has been cursed, but she upholds her religious faith.
Comprehending why war is taking place is also a theme ripped from reality. Deka feels saved by White Hands to become a warrior for the king to fight deathshrieks. But Deka can communicate with the deathshrieks and wonders if they are the true enemies. She tries to piece together the origins of the war and why she and the other alaki have been chosen to be the warriors other than their immortality.
With Deka scared about the purity ceremony, she foresees the worst-case scenario is her destiny. Then arriving at the training grounds seems to be her final destiny as a warrior forever bound to killing deathshrieks, but the more she evolves, the more she is realizing her destiny goes beyond what feels like servitude to the kingdom.
As fantasy YA novels continue to overpower the entire kidlit genre, there are still tropes in this book. The girls training together must become sisters in the fight, for example, like many characters before them with finding family along the journey especially when their biological families have disappeared. A furry feline creature arrives on the scene that only knows Deka, and of course, it’s a shape-shifter. The story is so jam-packed with tension that the world-building takes a hit. It sounds like they’re in Africa, but the girls come from all over the world evidenced by their ethnic names that may sound like they’re from Europe or Asia or Africa. More description of the geography would have helped boost the imagination of their location; the map at the beginning of the book shows the kingdom, but the character names steeped in real cultures contradict the map of an imaginary region.
Overall, the book has strong feminist yet disturbing elements of showing girls being disrespected and disregarded because of who they are. There is no ceremony on testing boys’ blood, but these girls are subjected to this sexist tradition that defines their futures that are chosen by men and a patriarchal society. It reflects the minor and major events affecting girls around the world like those who cannot seek an education. Like a lot of other fantasy novels threading real-world themes in make-believe lands, this novel has a lot of scary familiarity in its storyline.
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas crafts the origin story of the Carter patriarch from her successful debut The Hate U Give and shows the parallels of Maverick’s teenage life in the late 1990s with his daughter Starr’s contemporary experience.
This prequel focuses on 17-year-old Maverick and his foray into unplanned parenthood amid a contentious relationship with the gang King Lords. Maverick is making amends with his girlfriend, Lisa, after a brief breakup and hanging out with his friends like gang members King and cousin Dre. But he’s keeping a secret from Lisa: He may be the father of King’s son. Maverick learns he is the father, which creates a hardship for him and his single mother and a rift between him and King. Dre is the main person Maverick can depend on since he’s also a father and preparing to marry his baby’s mother. As the big brother figure, Dre advises Maverick to get a real job at the mom-and-pops grocery instead of selling drugs. Maverick is desperate for money, but he knows his cousin is looking out for him. Then that protection disappears when Dre is shot dead in his car. Maverick is the first responder and vows to avenge his cousin’s murder. As he follows leads, Maverick is having a hard time supporting his son who he names Seven, the number he calls perfect. He has to decide if selling drugs and killing Dre’s killer is worth it when he finds out he will be a father for the second time.
As a loyal reader to Angie Thomas’ work, this novel becomes more entertaining when piecing together the timeline of seeing where Seven, Lisa, Uncle Carlos, and Starr intersect in Maverick’s life. It’s a portrait of a family who has become familiar in pages and onscreen. The author even thanks actor Russell Hornsby, who plays adult Maverick in The Hate U Give film, at the end for inspiring Maverick’s teenage story. The intersection continues with Maverick witnessing the aftermath of Dre’s murder similar to Starr witnessing the actual murder of her friend Khalil by a police officer. With Starr’s situation, we know the killer while Maverick is carrying the guilt of not knowing the killer. Maverick also finds himself alone in advocating for Dre, who falls out of the media cycle as another Black gang member murder victim unlike Starr who gets unwanted attention with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement spotlighting Khalil’s murder by police.
Angie Thomas and fellow multicultural young adult author Elizabeth Acevedo seem to be the top best-selling authors in the subgenre as evidenced in what literary agents say in Twitter pitch parties. But they both prioritize tropes among teens of color such as teen pregnancy in their novels. Though their stories show a realistic depth to the situation, this thread is becoming more common in YA literature when teen pregnancy rates are on the decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Concrete Rose, the author has other characters, particularly Maverick’s extended family, upset about him not having only one baby but two babies within months. Others vocalizing the disappointment sits heavy with Maverick that adds to the allure of earning more money illegally.
Overall, like its related novels in the Garden Heights universe, Concrete Rose flows with familiarity with the first-person narrative and shows a character’s true feelings about hardships associated with their surroundings.
*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne is a novel-in-verse featuring two Black girls engaged in a toxic friendship that is hanging on a thread, but the verse and the story fail to strike a chord.
Skyy, the main character’s name we learn on the last page, is a basketballer who feels less beautiful compared to other girls, especially her best friend Lay Li, who seems to be the most beautiful girl at school. Lay Li is a boy magnet while Skyy suppresses crushes on boys. So when Lay Li’s ex-boyfriend Shawn tries to get more information on her new boyfriend Curtis, Skyy disses Curtis. And like that Lay Li ignores Skyy like she ignores Shawn. In disbelief, Skyy works to get back in Lay Li’s good graces as she feels the pain of losing her best friend over a trivial situation. She can’t confide in Lay Li or her older sister Essa, who’s always mean, and she doesn’t see her cousin Inga, who’s always nice, enough. So she stays on the basketball court and falls for a boy named Clifton. They kiss, but Skyy feels sad that she can’t share this information with Lay Li. Days go by until Lay Li comes to Skyy to share her very different experience with Clifton.
The novel-in-verse is becoming a genre that literary agents want to boost in the industry. Except it’s difficult to tell a sufficient story that fits into a novel in verse. This book’s verse is borderline mediocre, some good parts but mostly so-so parts as in the combination of words are not impressive. For grammar geeks, the paragraph breaks aren’t placed in the best spots with ampersands starting at lines and capitalization is not used enough. For visual geeks, the cover is beautiful with the oranges and navy blues around a Black girl trying to find herself while rescuing a friendship.
Overall, the book is short but not as sweet as expected. The story has familiar elements with the athletic girl being best friends with the fashionable girl. Opposites attract, but in high school the athletic girl feels inferior to the fashionable girl because of the heightened attention on what is classified as beauty. And beauty means everything in adolescence when boys are in the picture, especially when the boys are the ones creating the division between the female friendships.
Six well-known Black female authors with best-selling credentials came together to announce their joint project of a young adult novel surrounding the 2003 New York City blackout. Though the collaboration is a publisher dream, it also shows how moments of racial tension particularly in recent U.S. history are the moneymaking moves for authors of color to get their literary voices out into the world.
Angie Thomas of The Hate U Give, Tiffany D. Jackson of Grown, Nic Stone of Dear Martin, Nicola Yoon of Everything, Everything; Dhonielle Clayton of The Belles, and Ashley Woodfolk of The Beauty That Remains are teaming up for Blackout. The collection of six interconnected stories that will “bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark,” according to publisher HarperCollins Publishers and its imprint Quill Tree Books. The book’s release date is June 22, 2021.
Mistaken for terrorism almost two years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Northeast blackout of 2003 was a massive power outage that crippled the East Coast, most notably New York City. This sent hundreds of thousands of people to the streets after many had been evacuated off the largest public transportation system or had left their vehicles since traffic lights weren’t working. With the dark atmosphere on a ninety-degree day in August, unease took over some areas as ambulances raced to destinations and people stole merchandise. Race and youth naturally became a concern.
Making race and youth the main elements in a young adult novel seems to be more common now, especially with the contributions of the aforementioned authors. Angie Thomas rose to literary fame when The Hate U Give explored the theme of unarmed Black boys being shot by police or racists as did Nic Stone’s Dear Martin. Another recent example includes Christina Hammonds Reed’s debut novel The Black Kids, which revolves around the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and includes a mention of the 1921 Black Wall Street massacre. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Karyn Parsons recently spoke about her middle grade novel How High the Moon, which revolves around the 1944 George Stinney Jr. execution.
These historical events impacting Black communities were rarely taught in school but are seeing a resurgence in mentions amid the anti-racism movement. As students are learning from their homes, some YA authors of color like Dhonielle Clayton and Kelly Yang are speaking to classrooms via Zoom though they said they dealt with racial discrimination.
YA literature, particularly for children of color, is evolving to be a supplemental lesson on race and youth that will take moments from the not-so-distant past and use character voices to convey those missing perspectives.
Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson rips a page from the Mute R. Kelly movement to create a traumatic storyline that brings a teenage girl in the crosshairs of the dangerously famous life of an R&B crooner with a penchant for attracting underaged girls.
Enchanted Jones sees herself as a mermaid. She swims on her high school team and fosters a golden voice. One day her best friend Gabriella tells Enchanted about a showcase where she can win an opportunity for the singing career of her dreams. Enchanted tricks her mother into driving them to the showcase where she sings her heart out onstage but doesn’t get a coveted spot on a singing competition show. But 28-year-old R&B sensation Korey Fields does notice Enchanted and hands her his phone number when her mother isn’t looking.
That transpires into a flirty text message exchange with Korey dropping promises to catapult Enchanted’s career. Her parents agree for Enchanted to spend time with Korey in his home studio. Those experiences bring Enchanted and Korey closer while her parents are wondering why they can’t come into the session or why she’s staying hours longer. Once their relationship goes public thanks to a viral video Korey released without Enchanted’s knowledge, Enchanted joins Korey on tour. Her parents aren’t sure, but Korey’s female assistant Jessica agrees to be a guardian for Enchanted. Jessica is a woman, so the parents trust her to watch over Enchanted. But of course that’s not what happens.
Enchanted is transformed into the adult singer Korey wants her to be but so is another girl from the showcase that Enchanted finds in Korey’s mansion. They both are locked into their respective rooms. Jessica tells Enchanted she can’t leave the room for any reason—even going to the bathroom in which she’s given a bucket. The fairy tale romance Enchanted thought she had quickly is going south with Korey controlling her every move. She eventually breaks away but not before she’s a suspect in his murder.
The story mirrors what we know of R. Kelly’s alleged sexual predatoriness on teenage girls. Enchanted is promised the singing career of her dreams by the famous Korey Fields as he lures her into a manipulative relationship.
One factor here is that other characters around Enchanted are embarrassed by her faux pas of spending time with Korey such as her Will & Willow friends. The Black social group mimicking the real Jack & Jill have text exchanges throughout the book judging Enchanted and her parents for what’s taking place in the limelight. They say their parents are judging Enchanted’s parents for signing off on the tour and losing contact with their daughter. Enchanted’s younger sister Shea is totally embarrassed at Will & Willow and at their predominantly White school about what Enchanted has done. Gabriella demands Enchanted leave Korey alone, which puts stress on their friendship until Gabriella disappears from Enchanted’s life. And when Enchanted tries to find Gabriella after leaving Korey, nobody believes Gabriella even exists.
The trust Enchanted and her family have for Korey in the beginning also stems from the celebrity status. Korey is a known figure, so why would he hurt Enchanted? Like the real R. Kelly, the fictional R&B singer had allegations against him in the media brought by women who had inappropriate relationships with him when underaged, but his success overpowered that news. People confuse celebrity for trust because these individuals are famous and they wouldn’t break the law with so many eyes on their every move, but the last several years have taught us that a lot of men kept secrets pre-#MeToo movement and when their secrets rose to the public surface, they were quashed.
The edge of eighteen is another issue explored in this book with Enchanted getting too excited to enter adulthood and make her dreams happen instantly. Usually adults learn quickly that dreams don’t happen in a snap, but teens desire that freedom on the highest level. And many girls find themselves in the grasp of men who promise them that freedom, and in this case, that dream if they engage in a sexual relationship with those men. They believe it’s their only hope while they also get their hearts involved, which is what Enchanted does when she feels like she has to protect Korey’s feelings especially when he’s dramatically displaying them and blaming the outbursts on his past.
Overall, this book has triggering elements but heightens the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse a girl can go through while in a relationship with a grown man.
When I say
That maybe
I was punching
All the walls
They put around me
Around us
I was punching
The air
The clouds
The sun
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five illustrates a heart-wrenching portrayal of a Black teen boy trying to find what joy he has left in juvenile hall after being accused of putting a White teen boy into a coma.
Amal is a regular sixteen-year-old Black boy growing up in New York when he finds himself in a courtroom fighting charges that he put a White boy from another neighborhood into a coma. He gets sent to juvie, where he taps his artistic and poetic ability as best as he can, but he’s deterred at every corner. The other boys are volatile and the adults are judgmental. Poetry class is his only outlet, but Amal struggles with the work the instructor wants him to put into his poems. Then his artistry clicks for him, and this leads to him repainting a mural in the common area where the boys meet up with their families. Amal becomes known as “Young Basquiat,” a tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat, until that morsel of happiness is taken away from him, and his life seems to be precariously hanging in the balance again.
The entire story is told in verse. This young adult novel differs from others exploring the racial justice movement since the main character is in actual custody and his freedom depends solely on what a White boy says, only if he wakes up from his coma. How a Black boy’s life depends on a White boy’s testimony shows readers the racial dynamics even kids are dealing with. They had gotten into a fight that went too far. Amal says he didn’t throw the harmful blow that put Jeremy in a coma. The boys don’t know each other because Amal and his friends crossed over the physical boundaries of their neighborhood that separate Black and White families with markers of housing, education, resources, and opportunities.
Mental health is a major theme. One way Amal tries to stay grounded is through his Islamic faith. It’s refreshing to see a Black Muslim teen in a young adult novel because the religion is rarely seen in the genre, and when it is, it seems to belong to a Middle Eastern kid instead. Amal’s faith ties him to his mother, who reminds him to pray five times a day. He knows he stands out as a devout Muslim in juvie, and his faith remains under threat inside those gray walls behind bars. Amal also struggles with his poetry and art in the dreary environment. The story examines the power of art for youth since it represents healthy expression. When art is taken away by adults to cause detriment, a teen’s mental health could deteriorate, especially if they’re in a situation like juvie.
Overall, the novel dives into a serious issue of incarcerated teens and those teens looking for any glimpse of bright light they can capture to strengthen themselves. The co-author Yusef Salaam was one of the five Black and Latino teen boys found guilty in the Central Park jogger rape case in 1989. Salaam and Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise are now considered the Exonerated Five after they were exonerated in 2002 when the real rapist had been located through DNA testing. The novel is based on Salaam using his passion for art during his years behind bars also waiting for the truth to be revealed. That’s the most powerful aspect of this book: how race plays a part in who is trusted with the truth.
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed features a Black teen girl living in the wealthier outskirts of Los Angeles during the 1992 uprising, but the historical event’s impact falls between the cracks as the main character stays on the sidelines.
Ashley is a well-to-do Black girl living in the hills in an all-White neighborhood where even her own neighbors sit outside on the lawn as a pretend patrol. Ashley’s older sister Jo is considered rebellious and moves away to live in the Crenshaw and Koreatown area of the city, which eventually become hotspots during the unrest. Also, Lucia, Ashley’s nanny, is planning to move back to her native Guatemala with her family. And Ashley’s parents are off focused on their demanding careers. Then on April 29, 1992, the Rodney King verdict comes down. The unarmed Black man beaten by four LAPD officers the year prior doesn’t see justice as those officers are acquitted. Hours later, the city of LA is afire, dredging up a level of racial tension unseen in a generation. But Ashley still wants to fit in with her White friends at her White private school. She starts a rumor about Black male classmate with a promising basketball future being criminally involved in the uprising. Then all of a sudden she recognizes the microaggressions she had been dealing with for years from her White girlfriends. As she questions what’s happening to the city, her uncle drops off his daughter at Ashley’s home to stay focused on saving the family’s vacuum store threatened by the fires. How the uprising is affecting her family leads to even more revelations. She’s starting to see how race impacts her life. The tension pressurizes for days until it explodes at prom where Ashley experiences the ultimate betrayal from her so-called friends and realizes which friendships need to be killed and which ones need to be nurtured.
Ashley’s life and surroundings seem relatable today though it’s a story taking place almost 30 years ago. The author does a great job with framing the time element to make teen readers feel closer to the story.
The writing is flowery but gets convoluted with throwing the actual events of 1992 on the shelf in favor of character backstory every few pages. The amount of flashbacks bury the current moment. Though the flashbacks are interesting and intimate, they clog up the story development as it moves at a slow pace. With Ashley as the main character, she is also living the uprising precariously through other characters who seem to be more in the action or more affected like her sister Jo and her cousin Morgan. Showing the story from the characters who are in the heat of the uprising would’ve been more interesting. Ashley tends to be too aware where her voice comes off more adultish as she quickly picks up on the deep meaning of what’s going on around her. It’s noticeable via the audiobook where actress Kiersey Clemons gives the story a gloomy feel.
Overall, the synopsis feels a bit misleading with the focus on the 1992 LA uprising since the main character is physically removed from the situation therefore trying too hard emotionally to be involved with it. The more exciting story would be around the characters in the middle of the uprising. It’s a novel where you would want another character’s perspective or have the perspectives change every chapter.
*Given an advanced reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow follows two teen girls who call themselves sisters as they evolve into their true selves in an environment that discriminates against who they are.
Effie is changing. Her skin is unbearably itchy as she keeps scratching her scalp around her locs. She tries to conceal this irritation by remembering she’s Euphemia the Mer, the town faire’s cosplaying mermaid, along with Elric, the cosplaying merman. As the faire is set to begin, Effie can’t concentrate as a murder case of a siren becomes news. And Effie still hasn’t gotten over her friends turning into stone years before at the park while she was spared. In this story, sirens live among humans and are exclusively black females, so they face severe discrimination since society wants white sirens.
Tavia is a siren who lost her voice. She and Effie become sisters when Effie’s grandmother sends Effie to live with Tavia’s family. For Tavia, she’s having a hard time getting over her ex-boyfriend, Priam, an eloko, the beings connected to sirens who manifest in other races, so they don’t get the same degree of discrimination like sirens.
This fantasy YA novel mixes fantasy and reality, but the story can get lost in the weeds amid the constant world-building involving multiple magical beings. The racial thread is interesting, but most of the time blackness is described through Effie scratching her scalp and watching a natural hair YouTuber who turns out to be a siren. Effie’s hair and skin become the main issue, above the murder trial she’s paying attention to or Tavia getting pulled over by the police. The setting is Portland, Oregon, a community that has become notorious for not supporting its black population. Also, a gargoyle is perched on their roof at home. Making sirens black and emphasizing how they’re expected to be white is an interesting comparison, especially with mentioning a high-profile murder of a black woman suspected to be a siren and how it’s playing out in the media. The threat of showing magic affects both Tavia, who already knows she’s a siren, and Effie, who’s not sure who she is yet though she suspects a siren.
Overall, the black girl magic theme underlies this story of two teen girls trying to find their place in high school among human beings and other beings while remaining true to their destinies.
Award-winning young adult author Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam shared their writing process on their upcoming YA book.
On Instagram Live Wednesday, Ibi explained how she infused her writing into Yusef’s poetry in Punching the Air. It tells the story of 16-year-old Amal Shahid, a Black Muslim teen pursuing poetry and art, who finds himself in prison after “an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy,” according to the publisher HarperCollins Publishers.
During the video chat, Ibi wore a T-shirt printed with art by Yusef that he named “Born Brave” and had designed while wrongfully convicted for seven years over the 1989 rape of a White female jogger. He was a part of the Central Park Five, the group of four Black teens and one Latino teen blamed for the infamous crime. They became known as the Exonerated Five after filmmaker Ava DuVernay brought their story to Netflix last year in When They See Us. The group was exonerated in 2002 after the identity of the real rapist was discovered. Yusef was 15 when he went to jail.
While in jail, Yusef found ways to create art and poetry with the tools he could find like a pin in his clothes.
“Art is a completely liberating meditative process,” he said in the chat. “When you get the opportunity to delve into it and be free with it, you don’t really know where it’s going to go. And the beauty of it is when you finish coming out of the meditation and see what you’ve created, it’s like, ‘Wow.'”
Attendees were allowed to ask questions, and the first question focused on how Ibi and Yusef co-wrote the book.
“I’m the writer and Yusef is the storyteller in this situation,” Ibi said. “It was collaborative in the storytelling process, and I could not have written this book without Yusef’s input and Yusef’s history and Yusef’s mindset.”
She said while Yusef was busy promoting When They See Us she was hard at work. “While he was doing that, I was typing away and really having conversations with him, so in that sense he was the storyteller and I was the writer and transcriber, and Yusef was giving me ideas.”
Though they didn’t go into detail about the specific crime that leads Amal to trouble, the co-authors said the crime is inspired by their upbringings in segregated 1980s New York. They also said they didn’t want to apply Yusef’s real story to the novel.
Ibi and Yusef said they were inspired by the 1989 murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a Black teen, who was killed by a White teen mob in the predominantly White section of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn after inquiring about a car for sale with his friends. His group was mistaken for another group going to a birthday party of a girl one of the White boys had a relationship with.
The authors also recalled the Jena Six case of six Black teens in Jena, Louisiana who had beaten a White classmate in 2006. The incident followed a Black teen at their local high school trying to sit in a part of the courtyard reserved for White kids. The Jena Six received attention from civil rights leaders after they had been heavily charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Since this incident occurred before social media took off, Ibi said we tend to have a collective amnesia about racially charged events.
“I was scared to write this story, but I knew I could lean on you,” Ibi told Yusef. “I couldn’t have never written this story without you at all. One of things I asked you is whether or not you were OK with me as a woman telling this story and do you remember what you told me?”
“Absolutely,” Yusef said. “I don’t remember exactly what I told you, but there’s a certain power from a woman telling a story that can’t be not from a woman. I’m thinking about my mother as a nurturer. I’m thinking about Ava DuVernay as a master storyteller, who can take something out of the world …. I want to say I was so blessed to be able to have you in that space.”
Ibi and Yusef met in 1999 while they were both attending Hunter College in New York. American Street, Ibi’s debut novel, was a National Book Award finalist. She also wrote the YA novel Pride, a Pride and Prejudice remix, and the middle grade novel My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich. She edited the YA anthology Black Enough:Stories of Being Young & Black in America.
Punching the Air is being recommended to readers who like Jason Reynolds, who made an appearance in the Instagram Live stream, along with fellow YA novelist Nic Stone.
The book is scheduled to come out Sept. 1. The authors said in the chat that they plan to do a book tour, but no news yet on if it will be in-person or virtual.
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas follows a teenage girl through her rise in the local rap game as she learns to navigate her emotions around a traumatic event at her high school. Like Angie’s debut novel The Hate U Give, this story features a black teen girl trying to overcome obstacles in the fictional Garden Heights.
The daughter of the late rap legend Lawless, Bri is 16 and hungry to jump-start her rap career. Her Aunt Pooh becomes her unofficial agent by hooking Bri up with a chance at the main rap battle competition in the city. Once she steps up into the ring, Bri feels her nerves until the rapper across from her, Milez, disses her father. She never knew her father, but she knows he deserves the respect of every rapper in Garden Heights. She transfers that anger into her rhymes, emerging as the winner. She soon learns her competitor is the son of Lawless’ manager, Supreme. And Supreme sees the opportunity to make Bri a star. While riding the wave of future stardom, Bri is slammed against the floor at her school by two white security guards. As one of a few students of color at the historically white performing arts school, Bri knows she walks in those hallways with her skin color being seen as a threat. She takes that frustration and puts it into a song. Aunt Pooh warns Bri not to release that faux gangster front song, but when Aunt Pooh disappears, Bri decides to upload the song online. It goes viral but brings up a lot of negative attention Bri was not ready for.
The story is a great follow-up to The Hate U Give with a magnified focus on hip-hop and the lifestyles the musicians feel they have to assume due to stereotypes. Bri lives in the black underdeveloped neighborhood of Garden Heights with her Aunt Pooh, who’s in the gang Garden Disciples, and her father being murdered in the streets while at the top of his game because he was faking the lifestyle of being a hardened, weapon-strapped gangster. The juxtaposition of knowing who you are and knowing who others think you are follows Bri while other characters like Bri’s mother Jayda and Milez try to rise above the stereotypes. The school incident is unfortunately becoming viral with many kids of color being thrown to the ground by a white teacher or staffer over a disciplinary issue. Again, Angie weaves a racially charged issue into her book like the shootings of unarmed black people in The Hate U Give.
Overall, this is another hypnotic read from the author that dives deep into a realistic story that’s rare to find in today’s young adult literature.
“Viva Durant and The Secret of the Silver Buttons” by Ashli St. Armant is an imaginative girl detective story that combines music and mystery. An interview with the author will be available soon at shelit.com.
Visiting from California, Viva Durant is a teen girl who arrives in New Orleans bored by her grandmother’s seemingly simple life of running errands. Grams doesn’t want to explore New Orleans because she lives there, but Viva feels there’s so much mystique in the city that she has to explore the most exciting parts like the French Quarter. One day, Grams gives Viva a newspaper to read where Viva discovers an article about a man looking for his great-aunt’s secret treasure that could be worth a lot of money. What sticks out to Viva is the man saying the Miss Mary Mack nursery rhyme is about his ancestor and the rhyme has clues about where the treasure is, but he needed help analyzing the lyrics to crack the code. Intrigued by the backstory, Viva uses her trips into the city for Grams’ shopping list to head to various landmarks to string together the clues about “Miss Mary Mack.”
The music is creatively blended into the story during pivotal moments, especially in between chapters. Giving a history to the Miss Mary Mack rhyme on top of making it into a treasure hunt spells out an entertaining audiobook. There are moments where it feels like the mystery will stop with a questionable clue, but Viva moves forward with the clue anyway and finds better clues that bring her closer to the secret location of the silver buttons. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, also delivers the best rhythm for the childish voice of Viva.
Overall, the audiobook is perfect for a girl, especially a girl of color, interested in mystery and history.
“Piecing Me Together” by Renee Watson is a relatable story of a Black teen girl so focused on what she wants but doesn’t realize what she has can still get her to where she wants to be.
Jade is a high school junior/multimedia artist who attends a private school in Portland, nowhere near her impoverished neighborhood, so she makes a few bus transfers each way to get the best education. But she doesn’t have any friends at her school until she meets Sam, a white girl, who lives in a neighborhood near her. Now Jade’s mom can get off her back about making friends since she still is close with her childhood friend, Lee Lee, who attends the neighborhood school. Regardless of her socioeconomic status, Jade, gifted in Spanish, wants to go on a field trip to Costa Rica. But students have to be nominated, so when she gets called into the counselor’s office she thinks she’s got a nomination but instead she’s got into a mentoring program for Black teen girls. Jade is not entirely sold on the opportunity but attends the program’s first meeting, only to be stood up by her mentor, Maxine. It turns out Maxine, a Black 20-something professional who graduated from the school, can barely commit to the program with boyfriend drama. Jade picks up on this and takes their relationship with a grain of salt until they become closer the more they spend time together. As she visits museums in Portland, Jade is looking forward to hearing back on the Costa Rica opportunity, but she learns some opportunities won’t be given to her because of who she is but other opportunities will come her way because of that.
This story is a good read with smoothly showing Jade gain her voice when she feels it doesn’t matter because she’s Black, poor, and obese. She sees how not speaking up affects her relationships with one example of Jade and Sam having a temporary falling-out because Jade feels she’s not being heard when she isn’t saying exactly how she feels. It also shows the trauma of a Black girl being in a predominantly white school and how she becomes invisible despite her hard work. Jade sees there are other ways she can succeed, and once she sees that, the law of attraction will lead her to what she really wants.
“With the Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo touches on the struggle girls of color have when opportunities come their way because they live in a place where such opportunities never come or they feel they can’t handle those opportunities due to where they live and how they live.
Emoni Santiago is a 17-year-old high school senior with a passion to cook. She’s always cooking at home for ‘Buela and Emma aka Babygirl, the daughter she had at 14. A culinary experience class opens at her charter school and she gets a spot, but she realizes her usual rule-breaking in the kitchen at home won’t cut it in class. She tries to ignore the hiccups and wallows in the successes of the class since they have the opportunity to go to Spain at the end of the semester. It takes a fancy dinner at a restaurant to convince Emoni to take the class more seriously since it can lead her to a culinary career. Once she refocuses, she becomes the head of the donation drive for the Spain trip. And she also finds herself somewhat falling for Malachi – they like each other but Emoni wants to put Babygirl and school first, especially when she senses something off with ‘Buela, deals with a father going in and out of her life by flying to Puerto Rico, hands off Babygirl to her father Tyrone and his family, and sustains a relationship with her deceased mother’s sister.
As a teen mom, Emoni feels guilty about opportunities that would take her away from Babygirl because she knows not only she but also her family had to make sacrifices for her daughter because of her unplanned pregnancy. She wants to stay home and cook dishes her way because that keeps her close to ‘Buela and Babygirl, which almost derails her from continuing with the prized culinary class and going to Spain. There are chapters focusing on her time in Spain and she brings up the disbelief a girl from North Philly ended up in Seville. It also helps her find a way to attend college and stay close to home for her family. But the worrying about how the opportunities could mess up her current life when her current life may not be ideal but comfortable sticks with her as she tries to decide what’s next.
The theme of motherhood resonates in the novel with Emoni taking care of Babygirl while also wondering what her mother would’ve been like. Her mother died during childbirth and her father, Julio, gave her to his mother ‘Buela to raise. So while Emoni is working hard to be the best mother she can be on top of high school and college preparation, she questions why Julio is not around when he’s alive. And ‘Buela starts to be secretive over the stress of raising Julio then having to raise Emoni then helping raise Babygirl. Her mothering becomes endless in a way, and Emoni wishes she could change things to make it easier for her grandmother.
Overall, the book has remnants of an Americanized modern-day version of the classic “Like Water for Chocolate” with each part opening up to a recipe Emoni wants to conquer. Throughout the book, her cooking is heightened with ingredients she chooses for home and school to make her food pop. Then her family and class experience deeply-rooted emotions when she cooks and those emotions are even seen with the restaurateurs in Spain. Food is magic. Every other chapter being dedicated to what we already know about her past is annoying; it was already weaved into the story and additional details could’ve been weaved. The story stalled with those chapters and elongated it for no reason, but maybe for other readers that technique works. It’s a new perspective on YA lit with the teen mom lifestyle and school being a big part of the story like the author’s first novel, “Poet X.” The theme of a girl of color trying to figure out her dreams is still present in this novel and is elevated with the new perspective of culinary dreams.
What I love about Nicola Yoon’s young adult novels is they simplistically explore pure teenage love. This novel touches on timely issues with Natasha, who’s being deported with her family back to Jamaica, and Daniel, who’s dealing with academic pressures brought on by his Korean parents.
They both live in New York with immigrant parents and are trying to find their own version of the American dream. They meet on the street, like so many other New Yorkers, and totally connect despite Natasha scientifically explaining how love doesn’t exist while Daniel uses poetry to explain it does.
Despite their cultural differences, they find themselves interconnected as Daniel tries to help Natasha fight back the deportation order while they fall in love all in one day.
To stretch a book in the span of one day is a feat, and the author does it well, with short chapters from viewpoints of Natasha, Daniel, and the others they come into contact on that fateful day. It’s a feel-good love story that brings up issues of the day such as Daniel’s parents owning a Black hair store and Natasha’s parents coming into the country illegally. It can be devoured quickly with satisfaction.
