Black Enough

Black Enough

YA short story collection
"What are the cultural threads that connect Black people all
over the world to Africa? How have we tried to maintain certain
traditions as part of our identity question and, as teenagers, do we
even care? These are the questions I had in mind when inviting
sixteen other Black authors to write about teens examining, rebelling
against, or simply existing within their own ideas of blackness."
When Ibi Zoboi, editor of and contributer to Black Enough:
Stories of Being Young & Black in America, immigrated as a child from
Haiti to the United States her new peers didn't consider her to be
black enough. She dressed differently. Her accent set her apart.
She lacked certain skills like jumping double Dutch. Now in this
intersectional collection of short stories she and her fellow writers
show that there are a multitude of ways to be Black.
In Renee Watson's Half A Moon teen camp counselor Raven gets to
know her half sister, Brooke, a camper and the reason her father left
her mother. One night Brooke goes missing.
"I am seventeen and my father's daughter is out wandering in the
rain. I am seventeen and I should have taken responsibility for
watching her, should have stood up for her, made her feel like she
belonged so she wouldn't think she had to prove anything by taking a
silly dare."
In Brandy Colbert's Oreo Joni reluctantly takes a family trip to
her grandmother's home.
"...I remember the last time we went to Missouri, though I wish
I could forget. I was twelve and Ellis was seven, and our cousins
teased us mercilessly--about the way our voices sounded and the music
we didn't know and, it seemed, every single word that came out of our
mouths..."
In Jay Coles' Wild Horses, Wild Hearts Tank comes into a
realization of his gayness. His first love is mutual. While Tank is
the son of the only Black family in town, Skylar comes from a white
clan that decorates their home with Make America Great Again posters.
Also both guys are slated to compete in a horse race while both sets
of parents have their hearts set on a win.
"...it's like I'm two halves of something. Part A of me wants
to win this, get my parents the trophy, so they can stop bugging me
about it for the next few years. Part B of me, though, wants to do
everything I can to have Skylar win, and then I can finally stand up
to my parents and also to his."
At the end of the introduction Zoboi tells readers:
"Like my revolutionary ancestors who wanted Haiti to be a safe
space for Africans all over the globe, my hope is that Black Enough
will encourage all Black teens to be their free, uninhibited self
without the constraints of being Black, too Black, or not Black
enough. They will simply be enough just as they are."
On a purrrsonal note, well I intended to post this Monday. But here
it is Tuesday. The past weekend was a bit unexpectedly hectic. My
good news I promised is the same day I posted my review of Childfree
by Choice I got an email from the author thanking me for my wonderful
review. That may not seem so exciting to you. But I'm achieving so
little compared to before the pandemic it made my month. Adam may be
stopping by this afternoon. That would be great. (Jules)
We keep getting more white stuff. I am so not impressed. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene who has to plow with his left
hand in a cast.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


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