Offers a necessary opportunity for Black girls to reflect and breathe.
A how-to book to encourage and empower Black teenage girls.
Co-authored by a professor of psychology, a nonprofit CEO, and an educator, this is a comprehensive guide to help Black girls learn to assert their fullest selves in a world designed to oppress them. The text provides anecdotes and activities to ensure that as readers embark on their journey through the workbook, they will achieve three stated goals, namely that they will be seen, they will be knowledgeable, and they will be empowered. The book is divided into four sections—Identity, Body Image, Relationships, and Institutions—each of which has multiple activities for readers to engage with. The individual sections begin with anecdotes to help frame conversations about intersectionality and conclude with activities like designing a T-shirt to express positive feelings about their racial identity or suggesting readers map out, via a tree illustration, the roots of their insecurities about colorism. The images are cute and relatable: A picture of a Black girl in a bonnet has lines for readers to write reflections on their hair; a heart shape is drawn like a puzzle for readers to fill in and explore their most salient identities, showcasing their multifaceted experiences. Although the book does give definitions for many of the sociological terms used, some concepts could have been developed with greater nuance.
Offers a necessary opportunity for Black girls to reflect and breathe. (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68403-740-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Instant Help Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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