I really wanted to love this collection of short stories. I'm typically a fan of short stories, including slice-of-life style stories like most of these happen to be. Unfortunately, I was mostly underwhelmed. Of the seventeen short stories presented in this collection, only two really stood out to me. "Out of the Silence" by Kekla Magoon and "Oreo" by Brandy Colbert were my favorites and the only two stories that will stick with me. I'm surprised because I expected to love the stories by authors that I've previously read, such as Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, and Ibi Zoboi... but I didn't. There's a world of difference between writing a short story and a full-length novel, I suppose. I'll continue to look for full length novels on the topic of black identity. Maybe I just want more than most short stories can offer.

This is like an Adam Silvera book with straight people. I found it immensely more satisfying than Everything, Everything.

This is a difficult book for me to review, not because of the content, but because I don't think it's for me to rate. A father's words to his black son about the world he will grow up in aren't for me to judge. The content of this book and its context are certainly challenging to me, as a white woman. Coates does not offer a way forward (as the blurb states) to fix systemic racism. I'm not sure he knows a way forward and I certainly don't expect him to educate the world on how to "fix" racism. But maybe that's the point. There is no way forward for the better until we all realize that the problem doesn't fall on other people, like Coates, to fix. It falls on us. All of us.

I absolutely loved these poems. I needed to read many of them. My favorite were the poems about nature, especially "How A Tree Becomes A Wildflower", because I've been on a Waldenesque nature kick lately. The poems I needed to read the most, however, were the poems about love. They made me uncomfortable at times because of their sheer intimacy. I felt like I was peeking in through a window on some of the speeker's most vulnerable and intimate moments, and it made me feel a bit indecent. Somehow, Kai Coggin manages to take words and breathe life and love and all that comes with those them into the pages of a book. I've been on a journey of identity for the past couple of years and seeing the soul of the speaker of these poems so vividly help me see deeper into my own soul.
This is not a book to read in one day. Take these poems. Sit with them. Speak to them. Let them speak to you.

I really loved The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson. I read it all in one sitting. It's a fast-paced, fun read. It did take me some time to get a feel for the separate characters, and the art made some characters appear androgynous when I don't believe they were intended to appear that way. That's really my only tiny complaint with this book, and that's only because it distracted me from the story.

Faith has daydreams that mingle throughout the story and give perspective into the process of building her own identity. This is a story of friendship. This is a story of accepting differences and realizing what makes us who we are. It's absolutely lovely and so refreshing to see characters not be ridiculed or teased for coming out as who they are, even if that's not 100% realistic. The hope this book inspires is worth the loss of a little realism.

As an Arkansan I grew up learning about The Little Rock Nine, but only with the barest of facts during the month of February. I knew these students were brave. I knew they were chosen on their personal and academic merit.
However, until I read this book, I didn't know that integration didn't happen on the first day of the school year or the first day that the students tried to attend. I didn't know the literal life or death danger that the students were in. I knew the incident makes Faubus look like an incompetent fool in the eyes of history, but I had no idea that personal guards were assigned to students and then removed at the earliest "convenience". I knew that the students didn't want Melba and her cohorts in the school, but I didn't know that she was spit on and egged and kicked and burned for her attempts to simply go to class. I knew that Minnijean was expelled, but I didn't know why or that she was denied any attempt to join in clubs or to use her beautiful voice. I knew there were nine black students at Little Rock High School in 1957-1958, but I didn't know them as individual persons. Now I do. Now I see the cost that these warriors paid in blood, tears, and trauma. I only learned this year of the resulting Lost Year for Little Rock High Schools.
We have got to do better with educating our children and ourselves.
This is why I am so glad to be an African American History teacher this year and am dedicated to using only literature by black authors to teach this course. They don't need my voice to teach this class. They have their own voices that are so much more powerful than mine will ever be in this context. The least I can do is serve to facilitate the words of these warriors and icons to my students.

Short and sweet, this letter truly is for everyone who has ever felt that they aren't "making it", that they aren't good enough, or that they're not where they should be in life yet. It's a must read for everyone.

I enjoyed Christopher's voice much more than David's. I think I'll like Jahlil's even more. These books are a nostalgia read for me. And although I enjoyed this one, the writing still isn't what I wished it could be. That said, this book is loads better than the first one. I think I've read the first three in this series when I was in the 6th grade. I'm going to read the whole series now. I'm more excited for it after reading this book than I was after reading the first.
There are some seemingly random things about Everworld that I feel could be better pieced together. But I suppose we are experiencing it in this way because our protagonists don't know how the pieces fit. I'm still curious as to what this series would be like if each book had an extra hundred pages or so to really flesh out the details and characters. It's an excellent plot. I've simply been spoiled by YA writers of the past two decades.

It has been too long since I've had a book that grabbed me and made me want to hold onto the characters like this one. This book has broken my heart in a thousand lovely ways. I care so much for so many of these characters. They are forces of nature in themselves. I'm so glad that I joined Book of the Month Club and pushed myself to read more than my typical YA fiction. I hope to read more by Kristin Hannah soon.