Author: Patricia Elzie

I remember this graphic novel being very popular back when I was in graduate school in the library science program and each time I reread it, it still holds up. For most of the book it seems like there are three different stories being told in alternating chapters that have a similar theme, but at the end it all comes together and you learn the deep interconnection between the stories and the characters.

In one story we meet the Monkey King who is a prominent figure in Chinese mythology and learn how the other deities do not accept him because he is just a monkey. He masters many various disciplines of kung-fu and repeatedly tries to prove himself as a fellow god, even changing his body shape so he is more human-like. But the gods just keep saying, “No, you’re a monkey. Quit trying to be anything other than that.”

The second story being told is that of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American boy who wants to be white and blend in instead of standing out. Part of the reason is because he has a crush on a girl who is white and the other giant part is because of the anti-Asian racism he has to deal with all the time. The microaggressions and flat out aggressions are just a constant onslaught. Two months after Jin arrived at his new middle school, another student arrived. This student, Wei-Chen Sun, just moved to the U.S. from Taiwan. In an effort to reject his own heritage, Jin initially rejects the friendship of Wei-Chen but that doesn’t last for long and they become best friends.

The third storyline of this book is told as if it were a sitcom with a laugh track. It’s about a high school boy named Danny, who appears white, but gets a yearly visit from his cousin Chin-Kee who is a wildly racist caricature of a Chinese person. It’s incredibly awful. It makes me so uncomfortable to even read. Danny is deeply ashamed of his cousin and doesn’t want to be associated with him at all.

This graphic novel expertly explores internalized racism, self-hatred, and eventually self-acceptance and it’s a great read.

This is a young adult romance short story collection of interconnected stories. The premise is that it’s early summer in New York and it’s already very, very hot. There’s a city-wide blackout that simultaneously ruins a bunch of plans and brings a few unexpected couples together.

There are six authors and six stories, though one story is broken up into multiple chapters while all the others are single-chapter stories. That story is “The Long Walk,” by Tiffany D. Jackson and it begins the book as well as has an installment every other chapter. “The Long Walk” starts with Tammi, who is in Harlem turning in her paperwork for a summer internship. Her ex, Kareem, shows up for the same internship. There is confusion but then they are plunged into darkness because of a city-wide Blackout. They are told to go home and return on Monday to sort things out. Since there is a blackout, there are no trains. Turns out they need each other and begrudgingly walk toward home in Brooklyn all the way from Harlem. Kareem has a block party to get to.

“Mask Off” by Nic Stone is a queer M/M romance that takes place through some flashbacks and during the present blackout, where our protagonists, Tremaine and JJ are stuck underground on a subway train that has stopped. These two boys are also on their way to a block party in Brooklyn. JJ is on the basketball team and is definitely not out as queer, which Tremaine is very much the opposite.

“Made to Fit” by Ashley Woodfolk is a queer F/F romance and so incredibly sweet. Nella is a teen in a senior living home visiting her grandfather. The blackout happens and all the residents are in the common area, playing cards. Suddenly, in walks one of the most beautiful girls Nella has ever seen. This girl is Joss and she has a therapy dog named Ziggy that she usually brings to the home on Tuesdays. Shenanigans commence.

Dhonielle Clayton has a really fun story that takes place trespassing in the library during the blackout. Angie Thomas’s story takes place on a double-decker tour bus. Nicola Yoon’s story starts in a rideshare. I love the mix of straight and queer romances. Each time I learned how the characters in the stories are connected to each other, it felt like a little surprise gift.

In the intro, the author tells us that he wants this book to be truthful and that he will be sharing some very heavy things that people don’t necessarily talk about. He went through some very hard things as a child and young adult and likewise, many young adults are going through hard things right now. That is Johnson’s point in telling things truthfully. He wishes that when he was a young adult, he had stories to turn to such as this so he’s hoping that his story can help some young people today. Yes, it’s YA, but it’s a memoir that offers multiple places for connection for a variety of readers.

I would be lying if I didn’t say I was biased, myself a Black & queer person (as is the author). So much of his story resonated with me. His family, like mine, aren’t necessarily academics when it comes to queer history but they were loving always. I couldn’t help but cry every time I read about his close relationship with his grandmother. It’s just so full of unconditional, active love. I found it extra hilarious that he didn’t learn his first name until he was around six because his family and school called him by his middle name because I have the same story.

What I love about this book is that yes, the author tells his story but it is only partly memoir. It is also a manifesto. He starts right off with telling the story of the day he was born and then leaps into how we have gender projected on us as infants or even as fetuses as well as the other societal projections and expectations which, for many people, are way off the mark. He talks about how all of this adds to the struggles of queer kids.

The author shares not only the traumas that can occur as a queer person or a Black person but at the intersection of being Black and queer. This book is such a wonderful addition to the growing collection of queer Black literature.

Content warnings for sexual assault including molestation, homophobia, racism including anti-Blackness, cancer, and death.

The city of Chattana is a city of canals and light. There are many different colored orbs that serve as power sources to light everything, power the boats, heat the stoves, etc. They are all full of light created by one person: The Governor. The Governor appeared in Chattana after the Great Fire and saved it from ruin. He brought light and prosperity, though it is clear that the brightest and most powerful lights (and related prosperity) only bless the upper class.

This story starts in Chattana, specifically in Namwon Prison. It’s a women’s prison, though if a child is born in the prison they stay there too, even if their mother dies. So it’s not only a women’s prison, but a prison of orphans. We meet two of the main characters here in Namwon Prison: Pong and Somkit, two boys who were born in the prison. Their mothers are no longer alive so they are prisoners until they are released when they turn 13. Everyone at Namwon Prison is tattooed with a symbol that gets crossed out when they are released. That way, it’s easy to tell 1) who has ever been in that prison and 2) who has escaped.

The opportunity to escape arises for Pong and he takes it. He ends up at a monastery that takes him in. Pong is allowed to stay at the monastery and remains under the tutelage and protection of Father Cham for years. One day, the family of the Namwon Prison warden visits the monastery. The warden’s daughter, Nok, recognizes Pong as the escapee. She is very eager to prove herself and thus the pursuit begins.

Pong escapes and is reunited with Somkit but that is far from the end. Remember, this is a fantasy so while it’s loosely a Les Mis retelling, it is in a world of magic all its own.

This lovely little comic is a super beginner’s guide for both people who are figuring out their own queer and/or trans identity as well as the people who are in their support network who want to learn more about queer and trans identities. By no means is the information in this book exhaustive as it’s small enough to fit into a large pocket. It manages to cover the basics of some really common questions without being overwhelming or academic.

The main characters are snails and some adorable non-humanoid creatures. It’s clear the authors don’t want you to assign gender to the characters, which is a really good thing to practice.

It’s written in a format where each little section is titled by a question, then some discussion about the answer or answers. It begins with “What is queer?” which is wonderful because that’s a question that a lot of people have. Many people who aren’t under the LGBTQ+ umbrella can be confused by it. The truth is that queer can mean different things to different people. Some people are also concerned that it used to be a slur and this book addresses that as well.

The book also offers simplified information on the definitions of and differences between gender, sex, sexual orientation or attraction, and gender expression. There’s also a section in this book that caught me by surprise but not in a bad way because it totally belongs here, and that is a section on relationship basics and what some signs of healthy relationships are and also what are some red flags. The thing is, a lot of us as teens learn about relationships from what is modeled in our life and what we see in the media. It’s rare that any of us, especially those of us in the LGBTQIA+ crowd, are given a resource before mistakes are made.

I love that this book exists. It can help alleviate some of the emotional labor involved in educating people about queer and trans identities and do so in a way that is thoughtful and fun.

As the title says, the common thread in this collection is Black girl magic, resistance, and hope; however, we Black girls have a wide range and so, too, do the stories in this anthology. In fact, the variety is one of the things that makes this collection so incredibly wonderful. They span so many genres from high fantasy to science fiction, from westerns to vampire fiction to historical fantasy. I got whiplash from changing gears so frequently but I am not complaining. Each story was a new thrilling adventure that I had no idea where it was taking me.

There are also so many badass characters I fell in love with. We meet an enslaved girl who can manipulate metal and another who makes a deal with the gods of the desert. A vampire-obsessed teen who meets her match. The daughter of a mermaid and a young woman who becomes a goddess. We learn of folk magic to repair and replace hearts. And an auntie whose hair braiding skills are not what they seem. A teen who can stop time.

One of my favorites is the story by Justina Ireland, “Melie,” about a girl who desperately wants to be a sorcerer and keeps getting the run-around. Another of the stories I really enjoyed was Patrice Caldwell’s “Letting The Right One In.” It is a story about a Black girl who loves vampires and honestly, I can’t get enough stories about Black girls who love vampires because I am one (a Black girl who loves vampires, not a vampire). And also stories about Black vampires. Give them all to me.

This collection was such a delightful, fun, empowering read. There are a few stories I return to again and again when I need a mood boost. It’s definitely one to have on the shelf.

This book is nonfiction self-help/self-improvement with a heavy dose of humor. It’s divided into three sections, Be, Say, and Do, and each section has a wealth of insight and advice.

The author begins by talking about the internal work we need to do if we are going to be successful in fighting our own fears. This ranges from dealing with our own insecurities to managing (and stopping) our self-sabotage and unpacking our loads of baggage.

One of the things I love so much about this book is that it is an ode to her grandmother, who sounds like an incredibly fierce, amazing, powerhouse of a woman. Jones brings in many anecdotes about her grandmother as well as many Nigerian cultural traditions that can, in turn, help all of us to fight our fears.

I appreciated when Jones wrote about how so many of us are told that we’re too much. Too loud. Too aggressive. Too passionate. Too intimidating. Too sensitive. And that when people are saying you’re too this or too that, what they’re really saying is, “Can you be less? Can you be less than you are? Can you make yourself small for me?” And surprise, the lesson here is that it’s not our job to shrink ourselves to make other people comfortable unless our too muchness is actually harming someone or hindering our own growth.

So much of this book is about owning your own awesomeness, fighting imposter syndrome, and doing things even if you are scared. There are two chapters in particular that I think are worth the price of admission: the chapter on asking for more and letting loved ones help you and the chapter on money and asking for what we are worth.

This book was funny, inspiring, and empowering and definitely one I’ll read more than once.

Picture it: London, turn of the 19th century, and the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers aka the Magician Club. As you can imagine, it is a bunch of stuffy old white men. Sir Stephen Wythe is the Sorcerer Royal, the man in charge. He has a Black child, Zacharias, who he “rescued” from slavery because he saw magical talent in him. The men of the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers doubt that any “lesser beings” have worthwhile magical capabilities, but Sir Stephen, through training Zacharias, has proved them very wrong.

Flash forward many years. Sir Stephen dies and Zacharias becomes Sorcerer Royal, quite against his will. But the staff of the Sorcerer Royal will only be wielded by someone who is worthy and the staff chose Zacharias. A curious thing is that a Sorcerer needs to have a familiar. Sir Stephen had a familiar, but Zacharias does not, and it is one of the many things that the Society is holding against him.

While racism is one of Zacharias’s main problems, he is also being blamed for the lack of magic flowing into England from Fairyland. Magic can only be performed in England because of this flow of magical energy and it seems to be dying out. People are blaming Zacharias for it and he is determined to figure out what is truly going on. The Sorcerer Royal serves England, not the crown, but there is a lot of pressure for Zacharias to get political.

Because of this pressure, he escapes from London for a bit to go to the entrance of Fairyland to see what is going on with the flow of magic. But his cover story is that he is going to give a talk at a magical girls school. Girls and women, though magical, are not supposed to use magic. Proper ladies are taught to suppress their magical abilities and these girls’ schools teach them how to do that. When Zacharias arrives to the school, he is in absolute awe of the magical abilities of some of the girls. Particularly, a brown-skinned girl named Prunella Gentleman.

When Prunella insists that she go to London with Zacharias, under his tutelage, the real excitement begins.

If you’re looking for something magical to break your reading slump, this book may be the ticket.

Nubia is a Black seventeen-year-old with superpowers that she does her best to keep hidden and under control for obvious reasons: she is Black with superpowers! Racists already think normal Black people are dangerous, how do we think they’d treat a Black girl with super strength? Yes she has powers, but she is not invincible so she lays low with her two moms. In fact, because of a few incidents, they’ve already had to pick up and move towns multiple times in order to keep Nubia safe. They’ve finally lived in a place long enough where she’s been able to plant some roots and make some really good friends.

Nubia’s two best friends are Quisha and Jason. At the beginning of the book, Nubia, Quisha, and Jason are outside the corner store, having slushies and talking about their summer plans. Nubia’s moms are kinda strict so it’s likely she won’t be doing much of anything, though Quisha wants her at least to come to the upcoming march against police brutality. Quisha and Jason leave, and Nubia goes into the shop to get a refill. Her crush, Oscar, happens to be in the shop. While they are in there, there’s an attempted robbery and Nubia has no choice but to use her powers to stop them.

You know, her powers she is supposed to be keeping secret.

This comic is fantastic. Nubia’s story, though fantasy, is still the very real story of Black women being at the forefront of fights for justice. How much do we all, as people, need to risk in order to protect others? And how can we keep up the fight for a society that views us as less than human? Not gonna lie, I cried through most of this comic. Not because it’s bad, but because it is so incredibly good. Nubia is the hero I didn’t know I needed.

I highly recommend this comic, even if you’re not into superhero comics, you need to read this one.

Barker does such a phenomenal job of distilling the information down into concise sections that give you enough to have a general understanding and to also, at least in my case, generate a whole lot to have conversations about. There are a plethora of definitions of terms in this book, including starting with what we mean when we use the word “gender.” Spoiler: it’s a whole bunch of different things! And these things can change depending on geographic location, time in history, and culture.

It’s important to know that you cannot have a discussion of gender without also discussing patriarchy and white supremacy and capitalism and colonialism and everything else. This book makes that very clear and it goes beyond the “we can’t talk about gender without discussing these things” to explain the why behind the necessity of discussing these things as well.

There is so much about this book to love. The art is representative of a diverse range of people. There are a ton of pull quotes from scholars, celebrities, and activists that also make a way for us readers to then explore topics on our own and believe me, you will want to go down many rabbit holes. There are also plenty of pop-culture references to help give examples and context to a subject that can feel overwhelmingly academic. Note that it is a graphic guide but still leans toward the academic, and this is not a book that is accessible to children for that reason.

Gender can be such a complicated topic and this book is a great, unintimidating way to dive in. I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot and I hope you will too.