Slay! Read this book.

I finished Brittney Morris's book, Slay, two or three days ago. I worried that I'd be at sea in this book because I am not a person of color - seriously, I am so very, very white that I have to be loud and silly just so I don't disappear -, a teen, or a gamer. Morris kept me afloat with her smooth narration.

So here's the story. After a few racist incidents on popular virtual reality-role play games, Kiera creates a game for people of color. The game is called "Slay" because of the double entendre of the word - to dominate, or to kill.  Players challenge each other to duels. Their moves are determined by cards dealt at the beginning of each duel and by their cleverness in playing those cards. The cards all refer to Black American icons, heroes, and culture. Auntie's Potato Salad, anyone? Success or failure in the duels raises or lowers a player's status and can earn the player "coins".

Then, someone is killed over a misuse of "coins" and status, out here in the real world. Suddenly, the game is all over the news and Kiera - who has kept her identity as the co-creator of the game a secret from everyone around her -even her boyfriend, Malcolm, - hears the game vilified all over the media.  Life gets very interesting after this.

I mentioned this book in an earlier post and I mentioned that I was not happy with Malcolm.  Malcolm and his behavior make me sad. That is all I will say about that.

The book was an eye opener because of my demographic. Although every page showed me something new about gaming or color, even about teen life, I never felt excluded by Morris's prose. There is a universality about Kiera's desire to create something that shields her people from abuse, and in her horror that this creation is misunderstood. The arguments for and against allowing people of one group or another to have their own space are everywhere. Is it better for girls if we educate them without boys in their classes? Do Italian Americans need their own social clubs? When must these clubs, schools, activities be open to everyone? Discuss among yourselves.

One of Kiera's classmates is incensed that this game is closed to anyone who is not black. This limit, regardless of its intentions, even effects (is that the right word?) the game's co-creator who describes herself as bi-racial, though everyone around her thinks she's "African".

Race is a minefield. Morris points out so many different shapes of these explosives. Then, she leads the reader through the field with barely a scratch  - or with assumptions shattered.

Kudos, Brittney Morris, and thank you.

Note: I read a paperback advanced reader's copy that I picked up at The Book & Puppet Company in Easton, PA.  This book comes out on September 24th, 2019. Order it now. Just saying.

All the Kids

In the past two weeks, I read the following books:

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Lu (Track #4) by Jason Reynolds

Not long before that I read;
Blended by Sharon Draper.

What these books all have in common is simple.  They deal with kids of color.

But what I imagined as I read the books was kids - just kids.  I imagined their skin was darker than mine and I imagined that their lives were way different.  But the authors of these books are that good, that any reader can pick up these books and see themselves in these characters - even as they learn just how different their experiences are from the lives of these characters. 

And that is important.  These books are not strident or pontifical. The kids in these books have kid problems.  A parent is missing in action.  Or parents don't get along.  Or the main character learns that his or her adult role model has faults - a problem that plagues us all.  Or the family moves to a strange and different neighborhood.

Finding Langston takes place before I was born, right after World War II.  Langston and his father move far away to a big city after Langston's mother dies.  The city is a confusing, noisy and crowded place.  Langston is left to manage on his own as his father works to support the family in the South.  Taking refuge in the library, a wonderful place free to all "colored" people, Langston learns where his name comes from and discovers beautiful words.  He helps his father come to terms with grief. 

In Blended, the main character is caught in a police action and ends up in the hospital.  She seems so typical, almost boringly normal, that when that happens, the reader - if the reader is white - is stunned. It got my attention.

In Harbor Me, one of the kids in the special group is white.  His friends, because they ARE all friends, try to explain why he is privileged.  He is.  When the main character sees what happens to that white boy as he walks home from school, the group doesn't let their friend walk home alone.
The other kids in the group have bigger problems,; the threat of deportation, a father in prison, fear of being found guilty because of skin color.  They make sure that their friend is protected.  That's what friends do.

I can't even begin to explain what Lu (Track #4) is about because it is ALL the THINGS!  Lu has to face a new challenge in track, accept the disturbing pasts of people he loves and admires, and face, again, the dangers of living in his neighborhood.  Also, a camel made of kiwi fruit and bananas???  And a new baby?  How did the author get all that into such a skinny book?

I have read other, more pointed books that describe the pervasive atmosphere of discrimination that anyone who doesn't fit the White Privileged mold lives in.  The books I write about today offer vignettes of different lives, without calling anyone out - except perhaps the mean kids.  Those different lives are are relatable and real.

They help young readers consider how very different each of our burdens are. Underneath it all, we each offer something special to any tribe we belong to. Underneath it all, kindness, honesty and acceptance can make friends of us all.

I am white. I am a woman. I am privileged. I love these books, without exception. 

Dactyl HIll Squad - ON Sale NOW!

The Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older is an odd mix of sci-fi - dinosaurs roam the world;  historical fiction - the setting is the Civil War; and coming-of-age.

The main character,  Magdalys Roca, lives at the Colored Children's Orphanage in New York City during the Civil War.  During a trip to the theater, Magdalys begins to suspect that she can communicate with the dinosaurs that New Yorkers use as messengers and transportation. This secret skill becomes more and more important as slavers attempt to kidnap the orphans and angry New Yorkers take out their frustrations about the Civil War on citizens of color.

It took awhile to build the background. Magdalys' missing siblings, her relationships with the other orphans, the network of adults and teens who work to reclaim kidnapped children, and the ways that dinosaurs helped and worked for humans - these are all pieces that must be fit together while the story moves along.

But once those pieces fall into place, this is a rollicking good tale with action, tween angst and obstinacy, twists and lots and lots of bad guys!

I mean - dinosaurs?  and kids? and flying? and good vs evil?  It's all in here, along with some awesome historical perspective on race and racism.

I read the ARC.  Older references real Civil War battles and racial strife.  I hope the book adds some references to explain the historical events in the book.