"I didn't see many dark-skinned girls who had adventures or superpowers in the pages of the comics and novels I read. Nobody taught me about the Black women scientists making vital discoveries. Where were all the brown girls who performed on stage or wrote film scores? The scarcity of Black people in these spaces made it easy to believe that what I loved maybe couldn't love me back."
When she grew up Karen Strong crafted the book she probably yearned for as a youth as editor of Cool. Awkward. Black. It is a real breath of fresh air. Very talented authors place Black teens front and center in roles they have been discouraged or downright prohibited from taking on, showing that what they love can indeed love them back.
Nina, protagonist of Kalynn Bayron's Nina Evans, In The Round, has a magnificent voice and loves to sing. She yearns to go from crew work to acting in her school's production of The Sound of Music. She's much better than the competition. But is the person casting ready for a Black Maria?
Some of these stories are out of this world. Working out with seriously outdated equipment in her school's underresourced astronomy department, Ingrid is able to summon extraterrestrials in Ibi Zoboi's Earth Is Ghetto. In Desiree S. Evans' High Strangeness UFO hunter Lola is celebrating her birthday 🎂 with a road/camping trip to Shine, Texas, a town famous (or infamous?) for close encounters of the eerie kind with her two besties and a new classmate who may have potential to be more than a friend.
You've got your serious gamers. Of course. Ex friends reconciling over crafts. Adventurers. Musicians. Genres and story lines for everyone centering Black teens. And since thanks to the contributer bios in the back if you really captivated by a story you can discover more by its author.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm having a great Saturday. First Eugene and I went to Governors for breakfast. The waitresses had seen the story about me on Channel 5. They said our meal was on the house. In the afternoon I went to my lavender graduation which was awesome. Picture tomorrow.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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