Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

About the Book

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today--Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.

Black is...sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.

Black is...three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.

Black is...Nic Stone's high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.

Black is...two girls kissing in Justina Ireland's story set in Maryland.

Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more--because there are countless ways to be Black enough.

Contributors:

Justina Ireland

Varian Johnson

Rita Williams-Garcia

Dhonielle Clayton

Kekla Magoon

Leah Henderson

Tochi Onyebuchi

Jason Reynolds

Nic Stone

Liara Tamani

Renée Watson

Tracey Baptiste

Coe Booth

Brandy Colbert

Jay Coles

Ibi Zoboi

Lamar Giles

• A Star-Studded YA Anthology: Featuring seventeen acclaimed and bestselling authors including Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Renée Watson, and Justina Ireland.
• Authentic Coming of Age Stories: Explore the joys, heartbreaks, and questions of the modern Black teen experience, from summer camp revelations to first kisses.
• Exploring Black Identity: Tackles the question of what it means to be "Black enough" through stories about nerds, LGBTQ+ teens, rich kids, rural kids, and everyone in between.
• A Call for Empathy and Understanding: A powerful and moving collection that serves as both a mirror for Black teens to see themselves and a window for others to build understanding.

About the Author :
Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist; Nigeria Jones, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; Pride; My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich; Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel; and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize-winning Punching the Air, cowritten with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. She is also a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for her picture book The People Remember and her middle grade biography of Octavia Butler, Star Child. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find her online at ibizoboi.net. Tracey Baptiste is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novels Minecraft: The Crash, The Jumbies, Rise of the Jumbies, and The Jumbie God's Revenge. A former elementary school teacher, Tracey is now on the faculty at Lesley University's creative writing MFA program. Raised in Trinidad until she was fifteen, she now lives with her family in New Jersey. You can visit her online at traceybaptiste.com. Dhonielle Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Belles series and The Marvellers and the coauthor of The Rumor Game and the Tiny Pretty Things duology, which was made into a Netflix original series. She is COO of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books and the owner of Cake Creative. Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the winner of the 2022 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the American Library Association's Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. Her other acclaimed books include The Blackwoods, Pointe, The Voting Booth, The Only Black Girls in Town, and the Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion. Brandy lives in Los Angeles. You can find her online at brandycolbert.com. Lamar Giles writes for teens and adults. He is the author of the Edgar Award finalists Fake ID and Endangered as well as the critically acclaimed Overturned, Spin, and The Last Last-Day-of-Summer. He is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and resides in Virginia. Visit him online at lamargiles.com. Justina Ireland is the New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation, Deathless Divide, Rust in the Root, and Ophie's Ghosts as well as the Star Wars High Republic novels A Test of Courage, Out of the Shadows, and Mission to Disaster. She is also the cocreator of the middle grade horror series Tales from Cabin 23 and the author of the series' first book, The Boo Hag Flex. She lives with her family in Maryland, where she enjoys dark chocolate and dark humor and is not too proud to admit that she's still afraid of the dark. You can visit her online at justinaireland.com. Leah Henderson is the author of many critically acclaimed books for young readers, including The Magic in Changing Your Stars; Your Voice, Your Vote; The Courage of the Little Hummingbird; and Together We March. She holds an MFA in writing and teaches in Spalding University's graduate writing program. Because she has serious wanderlust, when she isn't creating stories, she's off someplace in the world getting lost, then found, discovering new ones. Visit her at leahhendersonbooks.com. Kekla Magoon is the author of many novels and nonfiction books, including The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, The Season of Styx Malone, and Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People. Kekla received the 2021 Margaret A. Edwards Award for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. She has been a National Book Award finalist in addition to receiving an NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, a Printz Honor, four Coretta Scott King Honors, and two Walter Award Honors. Kekla teaches writing for children and young adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Visit her online at keklamagoon.com. A poet An artist One black One white Two voices One journey Jason Reynolds & Jason Griffin are superheroes. Nic Stone is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Dear Martin, NAACP Image Award finalist Dear Justyce, Dear Manny, Chaos Theory, and Clean Getaway and the Shuri novel series with Marvel Comics. You can find her online at nicstone.info. Liara Tamani holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Duke University. She is the author of the acclaimed young adult novels Calling My Name, a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Finalist; All the Things We Never Knew, a 2020 Kirkus Best YA Book of the Year; and What She Missed. Before becoming a writer, she attended Harvard Law School and worked as a marketing coordinator for the Houston Rockets and Comets, production assistant for Girlfriends (TV show), home accessories designer, floral designer, and yoga and dance teacher. She lives in Houston, Texas. liaratamani.com Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her children's picture books and novels for teens have received several awards and international recognition. Her picture books include A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, Summer Is Here, and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones. Renée grew up in Oregon and splits her time between Portland and Harlem. Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children's Books. She is also the author of the NAACP Image Award-winning and National Book Award finalist Clayton Byrd Goes Underground; A Sitting in St. James, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner and Los Angeles Times Book Award winner; Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; Blue Tights; and four ALA Best Books for Young Adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here; Every Time a Rainbow Dies, a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book; and Fast Talk on a Slow Track. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.

Review :

★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Mixing gritty street life with the tenderness of first love, Haitian Vodou, and family bonds, the book is at once chilling, evocative, and reaffirming." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Filling her pages with magic, humanity, tragedy, and hope, Zoboi builds up, takes apart, and then rebuilds an unforgettable story. This book will take root in readers' hearts." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi urges us to examine the American dream to see if there is room within it to hold the ones we love." - Ebony Magazine

★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi's stunning debut intertwines mysticism and love with grit and violence...Fierce and beautiful." - Booklist (starred review)

Praise for PRIDE: "Jane Austen's piercing comedy of manners provides the ideal template for Ibi Zoboi's shrewd, timely second novel..."

- Chicago Tribune

Praise for PRIDE: "Brooklyn's gentrifying Bushwick neighborhood offers the vivid backdrop for this entertaining update, adding complicating factors of cultural identity and racism to Austen's classic tale."

- Buffalo News

★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Mixing gritty street life with the tenderness of first love, Haitian Vodou, and family bonds, the book is at once chilling, evocative, and reaffirming."

- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

★ "Each entry is deftly woven and full of such complex humanity that teens will identify with and see some of their own struggles in these characters... This collection presents the beauty of black humanity in all its many forms." - School Library Journal (starred review)

★ "The stories, all worth savoring, share a celebratory outlook on black teenagers fully and courageously embracing life." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Ibi Zoboi, author of National Book Award finalist American Street and Jane Austen update Pride, dazzles again with this stunning, marvelously diverse collection of 17 stories of the teen experience by black authors [writing] 'about teens examining, rebelling against, embracing, or simply existing within their own idea of blackness.'" - Buffalo News

★ "A poignant collection of stunning short stories by Black, rock star authors" - Booklist (starred review)

★ "A breath of fresh air...nuanced and necessary." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This collection seeks not merely to counteract society's idea of blackness but to expand it to its fullest expression ... a celebration of identity through vibrant narratives that will accurately communicate to all young people that they are enough--just as they are." - The Horn Book

★ Praise for PRIDE: "This Bushwick-set, contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tackles gentriciation, Blackness, and romance with honesty, humor, and heart. This excellent coming-of-age take on a classic belongs on all YA shelves."

- School Library Journal (starred review)

★ Praise for PRIDE: "Stands solidly on its own while cleverly paralleling Austen's classic... in a contemporary story about race, gentrification, and young love"

- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Praise for PRIDE: "A razor-sharp remix of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that deals in gentrification, racism, love, culture, and heritage, all helmed by intelligent teens in New York's Bushwick neighborhood." - Booklist

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Will reach young readers regardless of their background." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

★ Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "A breathtaking story about contemporary America that will serve as a mirror to some and a window for others, and it will stay with anyone who reads it." - School Library Journal (starred review)

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "A poignant meditation on one girl's struggle to find her way in a new world." - Nicola Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of The Sun is Also a Star and Everything, Everything

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Brimming with culture, magic, warmth, and unabashed rawness, "American Street" is ultimately a blistering tale of humanity. This is "Manchild in the Promised Land," for a new generation, and a remarkable debut from Zoboi, who without question is an inevitable force in storytelling." - Jason Reynolds, award-winning co-author of All American Boys

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Ibi Zoboi brings us a Detroit rarely seen: full of wandering spirits, suffused with magic and mystery. At once the story of one determined girl and a family at the crossroads as well as a powerful page-turner, American Street will leave the scent of Papa Legba's cigar in the air and its mark on your heart." - Laura Ruby, author of Bone Gap, National Book Award Finalist and Michael L. Printz Award Winner

Praise for AMERICAN STREET: "Zoboi's nascent storytelling gifts ensnare from page one. To this spellbinding voice of the next generation, I bow." - Rita Williams-Garcia, New York Times bestselling author and three-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award