I read most of this book in two sittings. Facts, stories of lived experience, and lots of great advice. Strongly recommend.

So this book is great if you are already engaged in Black radicalism. I will definitely reference it and get my students engaging with it. However, I think that the coverage of sexism and more particularly queerness are really disappointing in the context of the strengths of the rest of the book.

Ok so... this isn’t a life changing book. It isn’t a masterpiece. But what it is is so much fun which is why I gave it an instinctive five stars. It made me dance around my living room, recall many happy memories, and bawl “Wannabe” when I went to boil the kettle. If you loved the Spice Girls, it’s a super cute step back in time and also a reflection of what that means for many of us millennials as adults now.

If you want a teenage YA fantasy to whistle through, this is a solid contender. If you love the TV series, the books are like reading many of the same events through a different younger lens. Much less overtly queer than the series as well.