Tag: young adult

Manjani by Freedom Speaks Diaspora

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Publisher/Date:  Sun Cycle Publishing, Aug. 2008
Genre(s):  Coming of Age, Young Adult
Pages:  320
Website:  http://www.manjani.com

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Never will you read a novel with a more outspoken, unwavering young lady than MANJANI, a tale that narrates a girl’s coming of age and chronicles her ultimate self-fulfillment written by Freedom Speaks Diaspora.

The title character, Manjani, is one to be reckoned with. When she speaks, she speaks the truth. The problem is that it’s her version of the truth. Manjani wants to be a revolutionary, bless her heart. Although she means well, she uses her most powerful weapon – her voice – to annihilate anyone who impedes her growth and doesn’t ascribe to her way of thinking – including her teachers and even her own friends.  Determined to lead the charge to cure her “deaf, dumb and blind” peers, she sets out to prove how gullible “African-Americans” are, ignorant of the full history of their Afrikan people. It’s not that her message is flawed, it’s that the way it comes across leaves people turned off.

But never mind that. Manjani has a mission: to be revolutionary. With her father a member of an Afrocentric band and her sister, Aniba, a student at a healer’s school, Manjani has a few examples of role models to follow. However, her family is torn apart when a fire destroys their home, and Manjani is left with her father and younger brother while Aniba is missing. Living in a new home, her father decides to enroll her in Catholic school, where she is one of the few black faces there.

In short, life is a nightmare for Manjani. It doesn’t get any better when she realizes the school supports racist traditions – one that Manjani can’t stand for. Soon she’s kicked out of school, and joins an academy for future revolutionaries like herself. The Black Nationalist Academy is where she envisions achieving her life’s purpose with students and teachers who have the same goal in mind. Except the more she learns, the more Manjani realizes the world isn’t black and white, but several shades of gray. It’s even more complicated when she falls in love with a woman, who is both her teacher and mentor. But revolutionaries can’t fall in love, can they?

As the story progresses, Manjani finds out being true to yourself is the best cause she could fight for.

Manjani is a clever, energetic novel from an author who creates an honest character. Diaspora has a method to her writing that is introspective, but doesn’t come off as too preachy. I enjoyed the rise of a true woman warrior who knows her value and endeavors to make a difference with it.

Reviewed June 2009

The Lesbian’s Wife by Sidi

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Publisher/Date:  Harlem Book Center, Mar. 2006
Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Pages:  282

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Imagine being abducted from the life you knew and the woman you fell in love with…

That’s the predicament Aisha Kone finds herself in when a vacation to the motherland goes horribly wrong in THE LESBIAN’S WIFE. Aisha’s story begins in New York City, where she grew up the daughter of an African immigrant. Despite the worship of her father in the Islamic community, Aisha was being tortured at his hands, as well witnessing the mistreatment of her own mother. Being a woman in an Islamic household meant she had no power, and she vowed never to be tied down to religion if it means giving up being whom she is.

While seeing her case worker, Aisha meets Beyonce (no, not the singer), and they begin a romance, finding solace in helping each other overcome their tragic upbringings while falling in love. Once her father finds out, he is outraged. He figures he has to do something about his wayward daughter before it’s too late. So he arranges a trip for Aisha’s birthday, an African vacation to her homeland of the Ivory Coast.

Aisha naively accepts. She’s so excited, so much that she doesn’t realize the trap about to befall her. She makes it to her destination, and the trip begins with much excitement. She visits areas she’s only dreamed about and talked with people who paint her a colorful image of the land where her father grew up. When Aisha’s about to depart the beautiful country, however, she’s abducted.

Forced to be with an older Islamic preacher, Aisha becomes one of four wives of the Marabout, arranged through her dear old daddy, and and is forced to be with the older Islamic preacher. She’s held captive as a concubine and doesn’t know when she’ll see her family again, most importantly, her girlfriend Beyonce. How will she ever find her way back home?

Author Sidi has created a tale that could very well happen in this day and age. The Lesbian’s Wife has promise as an energetic, informative piece of work, but some details could have been a bit sharper. It’s too bad Aisha never followed her instincts – otherwise she might not have been in the situation she was, but she learns a valuable lesson that she shares with others. And in the end, it only makes her stronger.

I enjoyed the relationship between Aisha and Beyonce, which demonstrated that the power of love can survive even the direst of circumstances.

Reviewed February 2008

London Reign by A.C. Britt

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Publisher/Date:  Ghettoheat, Sept. 2007
Genre(s):  Street Life, Young Adult
Pages:  224
Website:  http://www.ghettoheat.com

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

If your back is against the wall, what do you do? Do you cower in fear or fight back?

If you’re 16-year-old London Walters, the protagonist of LONDON REIGN, you’re both a lover and a fighter. For most of her young life, London has been fighting against everything – living with an alcoholic father, surviving the inner-city Boston streets, being gay and being perceived as a man. Unbeknownst to most women she dates, London is a man trapped in a woman’s body. The love-em-and-leave-em playboy needs a special woman that can handle her and give her a reason to settle down.

London thinks she might have the one – until one night she is forced to leave home. It’s not something she wants, especially since she would have to abandon her little sister, Shantell, whom she always promised to protect. But she leaves anyway, taking a bus ride to Detroit, where she settles with little money and nowhere to stay.

She looks for employment in an auto shop, and runs into the boss’ daughter, Mercedes. London finds her attractive but hesitates because Mercedes is a bitch with a capital B; she doesn’t want to mix business with pleasure. The pair begin dating, yet it comes to a head when Mercedes learns the truth about London’s past. It jeopardizes her job and her well being.

But London’s a hustler, and has never let anyone keep her down for too long.

A.C. Britt’s London Reign takes you into the world of doing what you gotta do to stay alive. London is a real stud-thug, but you see she has heart. Good storytelling is the gift you’ll receive in reading London Reign. You’ll want to know what happens next to the bad boy, and if she makes it out.

Reviewed February 2008

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson (Aug-Sept. 2006 Pick of the Month)

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Publisher/Date:  Puffin, July 2010
Genre(s):  Young Adult, Family, Lesbian Parents
Pages:  160
Website:  http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Black lesbians with children take note: FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF MELANIN SUN is a must-read book. The compelling novel follows Melanin Sun, a 13-year-old dealing with the complexities of adolescence and his mother’s newfound sexuality.

It’s summertime, and Melanin is looking forward to the finer things in life: hanging with friends Ralphael and Sean, pursuing his crush on Angie, and writing his innermost thoughts in his treasured notebooks.

But what he looks forward to and treasures most is spending time with his mother Encanta, a single mother working hard to make a living for her child. The two are inseparable, leaning on each other through the best and worst of times and having a mother-son bond so deep they know each other’s moods and the simplest of facial expressions.

Melanin’s perfect relationship is demolished, though, when day at the beach ends with Encanta revealing she’s gay—and in love with a white woman. This piece of earth-shattering news devastates Melanin to no end. He can’t imagine that his mother could ever fall in love with a woman, and a white woman at that.

The one thing that helps him is his notebook. There Melanin pours out his heart, recording every emotion he’s feeling: from anger to shame, from frustration to understanding. It helps him slowly work out the issues with his Encanta, the shyness he feels over approaching Angie, and the ruined friendship with Sean once he finds out his mother’s a lesbian. As the story concludes, Melanin realizes that life doesn’t get easier as you grow up, only more complicated as the days go by.

Woodson approaches From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun with a great understanding of what it’s like to be a young black male and the sentiments of dealing with a gay parent. She makes you see the issues a child can have with your coming out, and how to survive it. As always with Woodson, the writing is superb, and the novel is heartwarming and real, a story with even a small page number manages to have an impact. Children and parents alike should read this with open eyes and an open heart – they both could learn more than they realize.

Reviewed Aug-Sept 2006

The Sista Hood: On the Mic by E-Fierce

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Publisher/Date:  Atria, July 2006
Genre:  Young Adult
Pages:  209
Website:  http://www.thesistahood.com

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Move out the way, Jay-Z!

Girls can rhyme, too, and nothing proves this more than author E-Fierce’s THE SISTA HOOD: ON THE MIC, the first in a series about four young women united through hip-hop.

Fourteen-year-old Mariposa (or MC Patria) is the narrator of this tale, a Puerto Rican tomboy whose skills and lyrics are tight. The only issue she faces is to make her best friend and fellow rapper Ezekiel (aka MC EZ1) realize that and fall in love with her. The only thing that stands in her way is his white girlfriend, Jessica, another MC known more for her sex appeal than her rhymes.

Her plan to win his heart? Win her school’s talent show and win his heart, and she has three friends that will help her make it happen: Sadie (Soul Siren), Liza (Pinay-1) and Evita (DJ Esa). The girl become fast friends and help each other through rough times, such as abusive boyfriends, dysfunctional home issues, and discovering sexual preferences. Although Mariposa’s intention is to impress the boy she loves, she realizes that her deep friendships with her homegirls are what really counts.

Author E-Fierce (aka Elisha Miranda) is an excellent writer, and The Sista Hood: On the Mic is definitely hot stuff for the younger crowd. It’s real without being preachy, and true to the stuff young people face today. This is a book your daughter will be excited about, and you could read yourself. The Sista Hood does a terrific job of portraying girls of varying ethnicities working together despite their differences. It also has a great message for girls that they can be anything they want to be with a little hard work.

That’s a song worth listening to.

Reviewed Aug-Sept 2006

Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair

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Publisher/Date:  Harper, Feb. 1995
Genre(s):  Young Adult, Coming Out
Pages: 256
Website:  http://www.aprilsinclair.net

Rating: ★★★★★ 

I can remember reading COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK as a teenager. It was the first novel that truly moved me. Rereading it years later, it still touches me.

Coffee Will Make You Black, the classic coming-of-age novel by acclaimed author April Sinclair, follows Jean “Stevie” Stevenson as a teen growing up late 1960s Chicago. Back then, times were truly a-changing: black folks were still known as colored, but were slowly beginning to embrace the mantra “Black is beautiful.” It was an era where parents wouldn’t let their children drink coffee for fear it would darken their skin color. Social unrest and the civil rights movement were in full force. Born to working poor parents—her mother a bank teller, her father a janitor—Stevie, as she’s affectionately known, is just a black girl is trying to make her way through adolescence in one piece.

At the novel’s beginning, Stevie is 11 and a half and in the sixth grade. She’s in that awkward stage, flat-chested and taller than most of her male classmates. Her skin is the color of Cracker Jacks, but “most Negroes didn’t get excited over folks who were darker than a paper bag.

Stevie’s only desire is to be popular, to hang with Carla, the girl everyone adores. She finally gets her wish when, after an altercation, the two become fast friends. Carla’s a lot faster than Stevie and teaches her a lot about life.

The novel traces Stevie’s five years of her life, from first crushes to first kisses to first love. She learns a lot about herself through her friendships and her family, all while trying to pave her way in a racially-conscious time. But Stevie does make a white friend in Nurse Horne, one of the few Caucasian faculty members at her predominately black school. Nurse Horne believes in her and tells her she can become anything she puts her mind to. She also lets Stevie know it’s ok to be “funny,” to embrace her blossoming sexuality.

Written with great heart and down-home humor, Sinclair’s debut novel sizzles and makes a bold statement about being black and being yourself. Coffee has a fresh voice and takes you back to being young and trying find your way in this world. Sinclair has crafted a novel that 10 years later, still resonates with the little black girl in all of us.

Reviewed December 2005

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

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Publisher/Date:  Puffin, Oct. 2003
Genre(s):  Coming of Age, Young Adult
Pages:  114
Website:  http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Remember what it was like having your first crush on a girl, that delicious sensation of something sweet and forbidden, but tingling with anticipation of doing it again?

That feeling is captured in Jacqueline Woodson’s tender novel, THE HOUSE YOU PASS ON THE WAY. Evangeline “Staggerlee” Canan, the 14-year-old biracial protagonist of this tale, deals with her true feelings when her cousin, Trout, comes to visit.

Before Trout’s arrival, Staggerlee’s life is filled with longing. Despite being surrounded by a loving family, she’s lonely and doesn’t have many friends. She does grow close to new classmate Hazel, whom she kisses in between the cornflowers, but that soon fades once Hazel discovers Staggerlee’s tragic family past.

Before her parents married, Staggerlee’s grandparents were killed by a car bomb. Both famous entertainers, they were immortalized in her small town of Sweet Gum. Because of it–and her parents being an interracial couple–people look at Staggerlee and her family differently. They assume she’s stuck up and treat her as an outcast.

Everything changes when Trout comes to Sweet Gum. Staggerlee’s never met her 15-year-old cousin. But when she does, she’s taken aback by Trout’s beauty and presence. Trout’s a little pensive at first, but the more the two spend time together, they learn they have a lot more in common. They share a love girls, both having had their first same-sex crushes. Because of this connection, their bond evolves into a deep friendship. Staggerlee has found somebody who truly knows how she feels. She realizes that her feelings for girls are real and valid.

Woodson is a truly gifted writer to craft, The House You Pass on the Way, a beautiful novel about a girl’s search for self. Not only did it showcase a young woman’s budding sexuality, but highlighted the unconditional love of a family. One can truly say this novel takes you back to the past when love was fresh and new and innocent.

Reviewed October 2005