This anthology, composed of stand-alone entries, spans multiple genres, including realistic fiction, fabulism, and fantasy. Readers meet middle school girls who are dealing with universal issues, such as family expectations, grief and loss, friendship troubles, bullying, and fear of rejection, plus some that are specific to being a Black girl. The stories overwhelmingly refute monolithic stereotypes, instead celebrating the girls\u2019 creative problem-solving, sense of humor, openness to learning and growth, strong family and community relationships, and powers of imagination. Some authors tell stories of ordinary moments that are transformed by courage, as in \u201cThe New Rules\u201d by Elise Bryant, \u201cAn Aria for Abi\u201d by T\u1ecdl\u00e1 Okogwu, \u201cThe Sleepover\u201d by Kekla Magoon, and \u201cRice & Beans, Rhythm & Beats\u201d by Ibi Zoboi. Others tell stories that take place in intriguing settings, like \u201cFirst Bite\u201d by Dhonielle Clayton and \u201cCr\u00e8me de la Cr\u00e8me\u201d by Roseanne A. Brown. Whether the subject matter is serious, as in Sharon M. Draper\u2019s \u201cThe Last Chocolate Cookie,\u201d mysterious, as in Natasha D\u00edaz\u2019s \u201cOne of Those Days,\u201d or heartwarming, as in Kalynn Bayron\u2019s \u201cAuntie Ro,\u201d each chapter is a gift for readers to discover. The empowering messages of self-acceptance are perfectly encapsulated in Ren\u00e9e Watson\u2019s powerful poem \u201cBlack Girl, Be.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This anthology, composed of stand-alone entries, spans multiple genres, including realistic fiction, fabulism, and fantasy. Readers meet middle school girls who are dealing with universal issues, such as family expectations, grief and loss, friendship troubles, bullying, and fear of rejection, plus some that are specific to being a Black girl. The stories overwhelmingly refute monolithic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}