Books about Black boys – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams

The Kindle cover of Blood At The Root, depicting a magical Black boy standing in front of an ancient tree, is held up in front of a slightly less ancient, very green real world tree.

(Buy this book here.) Malik Baron has had the usual fantasy hero’s rough start in life. He’s an orphan who’s finally aged out of the abusive foster homes he grew up in, and he has the prickly, exasperatingly self-destructive, suspicious personality to show for it. He also has erratic magic powers and no idea whereContinue reading “[REVIEW] Blood At The Root, by LaDarrion Williams”

[REVIEW] The Truth of the Aleke, by Moses Ose Utomi

The Kindle cover of The Truth of the Aleke, depicting four young Black people in traditional garb standing upside down beneath a clay fortress, takes up the entire screen.

(Buy this book here.) Somehow, this sequel to my favorite fantasy book of 2023 manages to be both entirely the same and completely different from its predecessor. Once again, a beautifully written story set in a Nigeria-inspired fantasy world revolves around a boy hero, although this time around instead of sweet teachable Tutu we haveContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Truth of the Aleke, by Moses Ose Utomi”

Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023

A collage of the 5 books I adored this year

(Purchase these and other books I read this year here.) 2024 is only fourteen days away. In a total departure from the near-panic of previous years, I think I’m totally ready for it. I do hear that there’s this thing called Christmas sometime in between now and the new year that I’m not at allContinue reading “Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023”

[REVIEW]The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur

(Buy this book here.) So, the poems in this book are absolutely terrible and we need to talk about that. Put away your pitchforks and torches. I said what I said. This book of posthumously published poetry by one of hip-hop’s most lauded voices is…pretty bad. The rhymes are trite, the metaphors banal (when they’reContinue reading “[REVIEW]The Rose That Grew From Concrete, by Tupac Shakur”

[REVIEW] The Lies of the Ajungo, by Moses Ose Utomi

A Kindle displaying the cover of The Lies of the Ajungo lies on a kitchen table next to a full blue glass of water.

(Buy this book here) There is no water in the City of Lies. Let me make this easy. 5 stars, ten out of ten, gold medal, everybody go buy and read this now. Why are you still here? Fine, let me explain… This short, sweet West Africa-inspired fairy tale is my second favorite 2023 readContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Lies of the Ajungo, by Moses Ose Utomi”

[REVIEW] The Ballad of Perilous Graves, by Alex Jennings

(Buy this book here.) (Disclosure: I met Alex aka @magicknegro at Under The Volcano 2022 and have been known to message him whiny existential writer complaints on occasion. This is still an honest review and I bought my own copy of this book because Paying Writers Cures Foolishness.) The publisher blurbs for this book allContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Ballad of Perilous Graves, by Alex Jennings”

[REVIEW] The Windweaver’s Storm(TJ Young and the Orishas Book 2), by Antoine Bandele

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds up the Kindle cover of The Windweaver's Storm up against the cloudy blue and white sky. The cover shows a teenaged black boy and girl pointing at a giant female figure made of lightning and fire in the distance.

(Buy this book!) One of my most anticipated new reads for 2022 is finally here and let me say the important part first– it did not disappoint! When we last saw teenaged magic student Tomori Jomiloju Young, he had survived remedial magic summer camp, traveled to the spirit realm, made a bargain with Olokun himselfContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Windweaver’s Storm(TJ Young and the Orishas Book 2), by Antoine Bandele”

[Booklist] And No-one Kills The Black Boy: A Selection of Black Boy Heroes

A young Black boy sits against a white wall with a notebook and pencil in his hands, staring into space pensively

Black boys are precious. Let me say that again. Black boys, and the men they grow into, are precious. It happens to be International Men’s Day today. As a result, the internet is full of Things About Men, good, bad, political, personal, and all points in between. I find myself thinking about the men IContinue reading “[Booklist] And No-one Kills The Black Boy: A Selection of Black Boy Heroes”

[REVIEW] Starlion: Thieves of the Red Night, by Leon Langford

A Black woman's hand holds up the colorful anime-style cover of Starlion: Thieves Of The Red Night in front of a office window overlooking the Boston Seaport district.

(Buy it here from Bookshop.) What do you get when you cross Sky High, The Avengers and Yu-Gi-Oh? Toss in a little Harry Potter and Percy Jackson too and apparently, you get this fun middle-grade superhero fantasy novel by indie author Leon Langford. It’s about Jordan Harris, a supernaturally gifted Black boy in an alternateContinue reading “[REVIEW] Starlion: Thieves of the Red Night, by Leon Langford”

[Review] M.C. Higgins, The Great, by Virginia Hamilton

(Buy it HERE.) I read this book because I felt like I was missing out on something. I’d heard nothing but glowing reviews of this from folks who read it in school and loved it. That, plus its inclusion on a lot of #blackboyjoylit lists made me expect this to be a very different middle grade coming-of-ageContinue reading “[Review] M.C. Higgins, The Great, by Virginia Hamilton”