Category: African American

A Novel by Nikki Grimes

1. Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. 2019. Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir. Honesdale, PA: WordSong. ISBN 978-1-62979-881-3

2. Plot Summary

In Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir told in verse, Nikki Grimes recounts her own personal history from her birth in 1950 until her mid-teenagerhood in 1966. Grimes’s story is one of great trauma. As the second child of a marriage doomed to fail, Nikki remembers lots of yelling. When her father moves out, Nikki’s alcoholic, schizophrenic mother goes to find a job, leaving Nikki and her older sister, Carol, in the hands of an abusive “babysitter” who locks the girls in the closet until just before their mother gets home in the evening. A little later, when their mom can’t seem to make ends meet, Nikki and Carol move in with cousins who “shoot up” regularly. Foster care, splitting Nikki and Carol apart, comes quickly thereafter. It is while staying with her foster family that Nikki learns the power of the pen to calm her fears and manage her burdens. When Nikki returns to her mother, she is beset by gang violence, sexual abuse, racism, and the death of a loved one. Yet, while her childhood is traumatic, Nikki finds her footing with her writing, her religious convictions, and the support of her sister, her writing teacher, and her best friend Debra. The end of Grimes’s memoir includes personal photographs from various periods of her childhood and young adulthood.

3.  Critical Analysis

There’s no doubt about it: Nikki Grimes has the gift of language. From page one, readers will want to invest in the story of the woman whose name is a lie, her first “invention” to protect herself from the real name that “wasn’t worth a lot.” Nikki quickly reveals the book’s title in an early poem, “On Our Own,” writing that she was never warned that “the world was full of / ordinary hazards / like closets with locks and keys.” For Nikki, a key becomes an “ordinary hazard” that locks her in a closet for hours on end while to an outside observer, a key appears to be an object of security just like mothers and grandmothers are supposed to be people of security (although for Nikki, they’re not) and bedrooms are supposed to be places of security (although for Nikki, it’s not).

Yet, while Nikki’s “ordinary hazards” provoke readers to horror, her adolescent life—though exceedingly difficult—is punctuated by what Nikki sees as God’s grace. For her, “hard evidence appears / round every corner.” It’s in the Christian church that Nikki is drawn to that leads her to her best friend, Debra. It’s in her reacquaintance with her father who becomes Nikki’s ally and confidante. It’s in her metamorphosis, as the slip cover shows, of a pitiful black moth—blurry on the edges—into a striking butterfly of neon light revealed underneath. Readers will come away from Nikki’s trauma-filled story full of that same hope she feels as an aspiring poet when the famous writer James Baldwin reads her writing, looks her in the eye, and asks her to give him a call.

African American culture plays a part in Nikki’s formation. Through it, she experiences deep trauma: For example, in June 1964, she mourns the “white-hooded devils” who killed black men like Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, and she’s physically scarred when she refuses to join a neighborhood gang. But through her culture, she also experiences deep peace: attending the Convent Avenue Baptist Church, dubbed a “Black church” by Nikki, brings her the family she’d never had and gives her the strength to “brave the darkness at home, once again.” Her father teaches Nikki about Black history, Black painters, Black musicians, and Black writers, allowing Nikki to see “Black so beautiful,” and to dream of herself as a singer, a dancer, and a writer. Never before have I read a book so unapologetically candid about both the negative and the positive aspects of a culture.

Nikki Grimes’s book invites readers of all backgrounds to rise above their difficulties and cultivate their talents. Raw, gripping, and packing a powerful poetic punch, Ordinary Hazards deserves a place on every young adult shelf. Highly recommended.

4. Rewards and Review Excerpts

Cybils Awards, 2019, Finalist, Poetry

Michael L. Printz Award, 2020, Honor

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, 2020, Honor

Horn Book Fanfare Title, 2020, Nonfiction

From Kirkus: “Grimes recounts her story as a memoir in verse, writing with a poet’s lyricism through the lens of memory fractured by trauma. Fans of her poetry and prose will appreciate this intimate look at the forces that shaped her as an artist and as a person determined to find the light in the darkest of circumstances. A raw, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting story of trauma, loss, and the healing power of words.”

From Booklist: “The memoir has heartbreaking moment—seven soul-crushing ones—that will make readers ache for young Grimes and teens grappling with similar circumstances. But inspiring moments bolster her raw, resonant story, showing that there is always light at the end of the darkest of tunnels.”

5. Connections

Ordinary Hazards is a memoir told in verse. Invite teens to write a few memoir poems of their own. Then invite them to share their poems in an online library showcase if comfortable.

Create a display of Ordinary Hazards and other children/YA books written by Nikki Grimes, such as the following selections:

  • One Last Word. ISBN 9781619635548
  • Garvey’s Choice. ISBN 9781501964695
  • Bronx Masquerade. ISBN 9780803725690
  • Words With Wings. ISBN 9781590789858
  • Off to See the Sea. ISBN 9781492638292
  • Legacy: Women’s Poets of the Harlem Renaissance. ISBN 9781681199450

*Note—This book review was created as an assignment for a course at Texas Woman’s University.

A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson

1. Bibliography

Woodson, Jacqueline. 2020. Before the Ever After. New York: Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780399545436

2. Plot Summary

Playing pro football made ZJ’s dad a hero. Daddy is “Zachariah 44,” the famous scorer, the Super Bowl winner, the darling of the press. But lately, he’s been acting strange. Daddy’s forgetting things—famous football players’ names, his own teammates’ names, even ZJ’s name—he’s experiencing horribly painful migraines that leave him bedridden, and sometimes he’s even yelling at ZJ, something he never used to do. ZJ is baffled at first, then shocked, then scared. Why can’t doctors fix Daddy, turning him from this puzzling new man back into the football-loving, music-jamming, kind, and encouraging man that he used to be? Luckily, ZJ has his family, “his boys,” and his music to keep him grounded despite his family’s devastating new reality. Set in the late ‘90s, this family drama written in verse sheds light on CTE, a degenerative brain disease affecting football players (and their families) that remains woefully understudied.

3.  Critical Analysis

Before the Ever After tells the story of one eleven-year-old Black boyas he watches a football-inflicted brain injury change his father forever. Told through Woodsen’s lyrical free verse, ZJ’s easygoing-turned-heartbreaking son-father relationship holds its readers transfixed, especially since it’s clear that ZJ, the protagonist and first-person narrator of the story, loves and admires his father and that his father loves and admires ZJ back. When asked whether his dad is his hero, ZJ replies that “Zachariah 44” is more than a hero. His dad is ZJ’s “every single thing.” The two jam out to music and bond over Tupac, Beastie Boys, and Rufus Wainwright. Daddy also becomes like a second father to Ollie, one of ZJ’s best friends. So when ZJ’s father becomes unresponsive, angry, and indecipherable, readers will feel the family’s—and especially ZJ’s—immense sadness and loss. Middle-graders probably won’t have experienced the devastation of CTE in their own home, but they will understand the connection that ZJ yearns to feel with his father and the bittersweetness of losing him over and over again.

ZJ is a believable middle-grade protagonist. His story feels authentic to 1999, from the ‘90s music he jams to (like Prince, Public Enemy, Digable Planets) and the hang-outs he enjoys as part of his group of friends (which he dubs the “Fantastic Four”) to the old pop culture references mentioned by his dad (like The Partridge Family, Minnie Riperton, and Earth, Wind & Fire). He’s also a believable Black character, although Black culture’s place in the novel is discreet, rather than overt. Skin color, for example, is only signaled in the text once when ZJ describes his “daddy’s brown hand” and on the cover art showing ZJ riding on his father’s shoulders. However, reader’s will note that ZJ’s mom believes in God and converses with Him as she tries to understand the reason for her husband’s condition. They will also note that the extended family is important to ZJ’s family dynamic. ZJ is in close contact with grandmothers, cousins, and various aunts and uncles who jump in to help his struggling family. In ZJ’s home, Christianity and the extended family carry immense value and weight.

Although not a “happily ever after” story, Jacqueline Woodson has written a lyrical novel that that takes a powerful stand on football, head trauma, and the rights of athletes. Readers won’t soon forget this one. Before the Ever After would make a great addition to any middle school collection. Highly recommended.

4. Rewards and Review Excerpts

Coretta Scott King Book Award, 2021, Author Winner

Cybils Award, 2020, Middle Grade Fiction Nominee

Goodreads Choice Award, 2020, Middle Grade Nominee

Kirkus Best Middle Grade Books, 2020

Booklist Book Review Star, 2020

From Booklist: “Woodson again shows herself to be a masterful writer, and her meaningful exploration of concussions and head injuries in football, a subject rarely broached in middle-grade fiction, provides young athletes with necessary insights into sport’s less glamorous side. In addition to this, it is a novel that explores family, mental illness, and the healing that a tight-knit, loving community can provide.”

From Kirkus: “Using spare and lyrical language for ZJ’s present-tense narration, which moves back and forth through time, Woodson skillfully portrays the confusion, fear, and sadness when a family member suffers from brain injury and the personality changes it brings. . . . The well-rounded secondary characters complete a mosaic of a loving African American family and their community of friends. . . . A poignant and achingly beautiful narrative shedding light on the price of a violent sport.”

5. Connections

Music plays a large role in ZJ’s life and in his relationship with his father. Play September by Earth, Wind & Fire and Memory Lane by Minnie Riperton, and I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, asking middle graders to listen to the lyrics. Then ask them why these songs might be important to ZJ. Ask middle graders to think about what songs are meaningful to them and, if appropriate, allow them to share their selections with the group.

Create a display of Jacqueline Woodson’s books. This selection might include the following:

  • Coming on Home Soon. ISBN 9780399237485
  • Visiting Day. ISBN 9780590552622
  • Brown Girl Dreaming. ISBN 9780399252518
  • Locomotion. ISBN 9780399231155
  • Show Way. ISBN 9780399237492
  • The Other Side. ISBN 9780399231162

*Note—This book review was created as an assignment for a course at Texas Woman’s University.

A Book by Kadir Nelson

1. Bibliography

Nelson, Kadir. 2011. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. New York: Balzer + Bray. ISBN 978-0-06-173074-0

2. Plot Summary

Written in the voice of an African American senior who talks to her audience as if she’s talking to her own grandchildren, Heart and Soul tells the extensive history of the African American people. The story begins with the exportation of African laborers, slavery, abolition, the Civil War, Reconstruction, westward expansion, the Great Migration, and the Harlem boom, and goes on to detail the history of African Americans in World War II, Jim Crow, civil rights, and—most recently—the election of the first African American president. This 100-page monument to the strength of the African American people is written in twelve chapters, with detailed oil paintings accompanying the written history on every page. The book also includes an author’s note, an extensive timeline and bibliography, and a handy index in the back.

3.  Critical Analysis

Kadir Nelson takes pride in his heritage, a pride that is apparent in his striking illustrations of strong-willed African Americans—people like Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and even sharecroppers and schoolteachers who, though treated unfairly, stand up nobly and seem to look the reader in the eye. Nelson’s focus on the faces of his subjects allows readers to feel a sense of personal connection to the African Americans of history and respect their dignity, even in appalling circumstances.

Though Kadir Nelson’s story explains heavy topics like the founding fathers’ views on slavery, the animalistic treatment of slaves, and the Klu Klux Klan, the tone of the story’s narrator is matter-of-fact—never contemptuous or bitter. The reason to tell the tale is, in the words of this grandmotherly storyteller, to “know where you come from so you can move forward” and to “make the American promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness a reality for all Americans.” This isn’t a book of anger, although parts of it will rightly make readers angry. It’s a book to educate, to uplift, and to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.

The book wears Black culture on its sleeve, shown most strikingly through its notable use of “oral speak”— the African American senior narrates her story as if her readers are her own grandchildren gathered around her knee. When she notes that the white colonists decided to rebel against English because they didn’t want to be slaves to the king, she says (with a wry hint of irony in her voice that’s almost palpable), “Chile, what in the world could they ever know about that?” Her authentic pseudo-oral narration pays tribute to the African American oral tradition of storytelling, passing down wisdom and history from generation to generation, even when reading and writing was relegated only to the white folks.

The first illustration of Heart and Soul is a painting of scores of Americans of all colors, races, genders, and religions, linking arms around an American flag. Nelson’s point, shown through his words and illustrations, is clear: America and its citizens are best when all of us stand together.

A book that allows children to gain a more nuanced perspective of American history, Heart and Soul is a must-have history book for children in higher elementary and middle school.

4. Rewards and Review Excerpts

Cybils Award, 2011, Nominee, Children’s Nonfiction

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, 2012, Nominee

White Ravens Award, 2012, Winner, United States

NPR’s Book Concierge Pick, 2011, Kids

From Kirkus: In an undertaking even more ambitious than the multiple-award-winning We Are the Ship (2008), Nelson tells the story of African-Americans and their often central place in American history. . . . This intimate narrative makes the stories accessible to young readers and powerfully conveys how personal this history feels for many African-Americans.”

From Booklist: “Nelson, the creator of We Are the Ship (2008), recipient of both a Coretta Scott King Author Award and a Robert F. Siebert Medal, adds to his notable titles with this powerful view of African American history.”

5. Connections

Create a display of nonfiction African American history books for children and young adults, such as the following selections:

  • Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. ISBN 9780451478726
  • Beals, Melba Pattillo. Warriors Don’t Cry. ISBN 9780671899004
  • Bridges, Ruby. This Is Your Time. ISBN 9780593378557
  • Lewis, John, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. March: Book Three. ISBN 9781603094023

Create a display of Heart and Soul and other books written and/or illustrated by Kadir Nelson, such as the following selections:

  • We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. ISBN 9780786808328
  • Nelson Mandela. ISBN 9780061783746
  • He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. ISBN 9780803728509
  • Levine, Ellen. Henry’s Freedom Box. ISBN 9780439777339
  • Alexander, Kwame. The Undefeated. ISBN 9781328780966
  • Napoli, Donna Jo. Mama Miti. ISBN 9781416935056

*Note—This book review was created as an assignment for a course at Texas Woman’s University.