Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
Ratings16
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings16
Average rating3.8
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List. Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson. Black is…three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds. Black is…Nic Stone’s high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is…two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland. Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—because there are countless ways to be Black enough. Contributors: Justina Ireland Varian Johnson Rita Williams-Garcia Dhonielle Clayton Kekla Magoon Leah Henderson Tochi Onyebuchi Jason Reynolds Nic Stone Liara Tamani Renée Watson Tracey Baptiste Coe Booth Brandy Colbert Jay Coles Ibi Zoboi Lamar Giles
Reviews with the most likes.
I think this is the most fully stylish book jacket I've ever seen, so well designed. As for the content, Zoboi gathered an all-star cast of 17 Black YA authors for this anthology, specifically to write/show that Black culture is not a monolith (wonderful!). It was a little uneven, with authors I've loved delivering some lows (Jay Coles, Kekla Magoon, & Rita Williams-Garcia in particular), but mostly the stories were good to great. My favorite stories were from Jason Reynolds (short but so sumptously written, he's just showing off with his skill at this point, writing that well about sandwiches!), Nic Stone, Ibi Zoboi (best line - “charter schools were full of young white women from the Midswest thinking they could change the world and save the poor Black kids” oooof but yes), Coe Booth, & Tochi Onyebuchi. Bought another copy for the library because our brand new copy walked and is hopefully living a good and well-read life somewhere!
This aptly-named collection of short stories provides a look into the varied experiences of several Black teenaged protagonists. It offers stories of joy, of sorrow, of the exciting, of the mundane, and of everything else in between.
I was sucked into many of the stories wishing they were full novel length not just a short story, but had a hard time with some of the other stories.
