Black Girl Power

by Leah Johnson

 
“A wonderful, genre-spanning collection to dip
into time and time again.” - Booktrust



“ bequeaths confidence-building storiesthat
sizzle with wisdom and a little bit of magic."”
- Kirkus (starred review)



A joyous anthology full of black girl
power curated by critically acclaimed and award-winning
author, Leah Johnson, and with a cover illustrated by
the #1 New York Times bestselling creator of LITTLE LEADERS,
Vashti Harrison.
The anthology features stories from Amerie, Dhonielle Clayton,
Elise Bryant, Ibi Zoboi, Janae Marks, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong,
Kekla Magoon, Leah Johnson, Natasha Díaz, Renée Watson, Roseanne
A. Brown, Sharon G. Flake, Sharon M. Draper and Tolá Okogwu.




A heartwarming anthology of black girl
power
Curated by critically acclaimed and award-winning author,
Leah Johnson

Genres: Middle Grade, Short Stories, Anthologies, Friendship, Contemporary, LGBT, Fiction

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2024

About the author

Leah Johnson (she/her) is an eternal midwesterner and author of award-winning books for children and young adults. Her bestselling debut YA novel, You Should See Me in a Crown, was a Stonewall Honor Book, the inaugural Reese's Book Club YA pick, and in 2021, named by TIME as one of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade novel, Ellie Engle Saves Herself, and the editor of the USA Today bestselling anthology, Black Girl Power. When she’s not writing, you can find her at Loudmouth Books, her Indianapolis-based independent bookstore that specializes in highlighting the work of marginalized authors and uplifting banned or challenged books.

Reviews

[Monday]

Normally, when I read a collection of short stories, I'm always disappointed by a few in the collection. This was not the case with this collection. Every single story touched on an aspect of life that many people could relate to, no matter if they're Black or not.

I walked away from each story, wanting to stay in the world that was created just a little bit longer.

I definitely plan to check out more from some of these authors, and I will revisit this book again in the future.

[Chante Marie]

~ ARC provided by Edelweiss in exchange for my honest opinion ~

This is definitely one of those books I wish I had growing up. Just the confidence and power these characters either have or develop is what all young girls should be reading about.
I could have read a book on each of these stories, that’s rare with anthologies. Just empowering and beautiful.

[Bethany Hall]

The last story was my favorite by Leah Johnson- but I always love Renee Watson and hers did NOT disappoint.

[Kate Willis]

Such a beautiful, powerful anthology! I loved reading stories by favorite authors and discovering new ones too. A few even made me tear up. 😉

Definitely worth the read! 💜

CW: magic, bullying, medical details. A character has two moms and another is married to a woman. A girl wonders if she has a crush on another girl.

[Lolz]

This book SPARKLED and brought joy to my day ✨
Fun fresh empowering stories: vampires and opera singing and the magic/dream/floating community and the ritual healing and the mookie & cookie twins - I adored every chapter!

[Tanya Prax]

4.5 stars

[Aysia Stephens]

A good book with inspiring stories.

Great authors - a pleasure to read.

[寿理 宮本]

It sounds bad saying I made myself read this, but I found myself checking out random books from the library for "optics" once I learned that circulation helps them get more funding, and most of them I wouldn't read because it felt like it would take too long.

This is a good collection of stories, though! Anthologies are often hit-or-miss, since the stories have to stand on their own without (or with?) support from the other stories in the collection. Some are stronger than others, of course, but they're all good!

1. "The New Rules" - Elise Bryant
Starting off with one of my best pastimes: napping in the car! Even to the point of wanting to build a bedroom in there, haha. The overall story, though, is about friendships—or, how they die out—and how to recover from the loss. It's a little predictable, but in a good way, since that's the understandable happy ending for everyone involved.

2. "First Bite" - Dhonielle Clayton
The first fantastic (as in, fantasy, though not necessarily "high fantasy") story in the book! "Bird" is a "kind" of vampire but technically distinct from vampires, even though her kind drinks blood—and she hasn't yet taken her own first bite of human. Also a little predictable, but what better ending? About my only complaint is this didn't feel as "Black Girl Power" as "Girl Power." I suppose there's only so much you can drill the point home without being overbearing, though.

3. "One of Those Days" - Natasha Diaz
The first clue is that the narrator doesn't question anything that's happening, and everything is very surreal, even as she goes about saying goodbye to Harlem. I've had a lot of days like that, actually, where things feel incredibly surreal, until I wake up, though sometimes that actually doesn't help.

4. "An Aria for Abi" - Tọlá Okogwu
One of those stories that feels like the whole "having it all" dilemma, as Abi is on a track scholarship but *really* wants to try out for the opera—which her somewhat tiger parents frown on as trivial and not worth Abi's time. (Hopefully they don't come to regret it.) I sort of saw the end coming, and it's definitely a good one, since Jola got to support Abi by pretending to be her so Abi wouldn't get punished for missing another track practice when she went to audition.

5. "The Last Chocolate Cookie" - Sharon M. Draper
Definitely a hard read, I imagine *particularly* since it's about twins, who I understand have that much closer of a bond than other siblings (besides other multiples, I guess). It's a little more introspective and self-flagellating than similar stories I've read, certainly recently, though I definitely wouldn't criticise its inclusion in the book.

6. "Crème de la Crème" - Roseanne A. Brown
A story in three "letters" apologising for the main character's behaviour in a magical pastry competition where she made her team's winning entry explode. She finally justifies it in the third letter in a very lengthy explanation that it took her that long to realise her "friends" at the magical pastry school weren't really friends, but the kind of bullies who seem nice enough until they don't like you, and it took them making fun of her mother for her to realise where her priorities lay. A great story in the style of Dear Mr. Henshaw!

7. "Convention Girl" - Janae Marks
A STEM-loving girl helps her mother at a convention and steps away for a bit, only to discover her STEM idol has a panel there! A bit predictable once it gets to that part, since what kind of GOOD story would end with her NOT meeting her idol? Tempted to add the book to the list of books about unorthodox food but not sure if a brief mention of "cricket snacks" merits adding it to the list.

8. "Black Girl, Be" - Renée Watson
Less a story, unless it's the story of You, the Black Girl, who is proudly going to Be. It's a letter, like "Crème de la Crème," but told in second-person, to the reader, in flowery prose about how You should delight in your very Existence. It reads a bit like a mother writing a love letter to her future child, filled with hopes and dreams for Your life. Not bad, but a bit of a tangent to the other entries in this anthology.

9. "The House Downstairs" - Amerie
I'd say this is a great Goosebumps story, but it's much more Creepers, which has surprisingly happy endings for "horror" stories. I suppose this isn't so much horror, either, other than the spookiness of things and PEOPLE disappearing (or appearing) in the creepy old house. Oh, wait, and I guess the being turned into ragdolls part. Yeah, this is horror. It's a great story, though!

10. "Fake President" - Sharon G. Flake
This ALSO feels like horror: Amore's mother makes her run for class president, and somehow she WINS. In the process, she accidentally says something that comes across as promising to take the entire grade to a theme park for free, which is a heck of a "not actually a promise but would the school believe it wasn't?" thing to say. It's a good lesson in "underpromise but overdeliver" that Amore got wrong from the start. Also, the usual "bullies who are only nice when they want something from you" stuff.

11. "The Witch in Apartment 2B" - Karen Strong
I had an idea about this one from the start, which makes it great, because the lesson is a good one. "Cherry" has a bullying problem—with ex-friends—just because she started going to a gifted program, and somehow the ex-friends took that personally. The one thing I don't like is how Miss Alice (the titular Witch in Apartment 2B) insists on calling her Cherise since it's "what your mama named you." I personally loved the idea of naming my (now never to exist) children something with LOTS of nickname potential to let them choose their own identities, so that one line rubs me the wrong way. It also—since I am coincidentally writing this part of the review both during Pride Month and Juneteenth—reeks of homophobia ("It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve") and transphobia ("You can't change how you were born"—even though lots of things about you change as you grow) and the whole not letting other people decide how they identify themselves when you yourself wouldn't put up with that coming from others.

Sorry about the tangent, just sort of strikes a nerve.

12. "Auntie Ro" - Kalynn Bayron
This is the "black girl"-est story in the book, I have to say! It's a fairly in-depth look at hairstyling, which is worlds different from hairstyling for other races. For black people to have decent-looking hair, they have to spend much more time and money on it. I sort of get why a lot of black men I've seen practically shave their heads once they get older—heck, my brother-in-law did that just to save on hairstyling products, and he white as anything. (A funny in-joke is he showed up late to a reunion and some folks who had been waiting to see him commented, "You cut off all your hair!" and immediately left.) Anyway, I love the attention to detail in their styling techniques, and the communal aspect of Ro having Janelle over with the other two women, like a little surrogate social group in her mother's absence. Even her dad helping out where he can, like a Hair Love for an older girl.

13. "The Sleepover" - Kekla Magoon
This starts to feel like the sadly normal story about outgrowing the friends you made based on age and proximity, where people start drifting apart because now other things matter in friendships. Luckily, Cordie finds a new ally in the "cool" new girl James, and—I admit—James is what clued me in to my "reverse racism"(?) where I had immediately assumed all the girls at the sleepover were black, because "Black Girl Power." I mean, to be fair, in written stories, you have to spell it out, where you can make it bluntly obvious in graphic novels even in black and white. This story, like ALL the stories in this book, has a happy ending, though, so don't be turned off just because it starts down the "sadly normal" path!

14. "Rice & Beans, Rhythm & Beats" - Ibi Zoboi
Another story a little about bullying, though more in the sense of feeling like everyone else is making fun of you for your version of "normal." Seems like a lot of Beatrice's problems would've been solved by telling the other kids it's none of their business when they ask, "Ewww! What is that?" Yet it takes another girl (followed by others) taking the lead and showing Beatrice how to accept her own culture, and sharing theirs with each other. It ventures into new territory when the "outcasts" are interested in trying out for the Step Team, and Beatrice is worried since the same girls who made fun of her in the first place head the team. Ultimately, they are able to work together to win over the school and join the Step Team, and no one makes fun of them again. A bit of an abrupt ending, but decent story.

15. "Brave" - Leah Johnson
One of the harder stories to read, because even though I already assured you that all the stories have a happy ending... the difference between a happy and a sad ending is where the story ends. Billie is hardheaded in many ways and thinks bravery is about putting forth a "tough" image. However, when she is diagnosed with ITP, she is inclined to ignore it and go about her life as per normal since the treatments would make her miss a whole year of hockey. It takes another girl (Maggie) going through treatments for leukemia to teach her some perspective, that "being brave isn't about not being scared. It's about being scared and doing it anyway." If the story kept going, it would almost definitely show that Maggie doesn't get better and go swimming at the beach like she says she will. However, it ends with Billie saying goodbye after getting her own final treatment on their last shared appointment, admiring who she believes is "the bravest girl on the whole west side of Indianapolis."

On the whole, a lovely collection of (mostly) stories celebrating black girls being their best selves, definitely worth a read!

[Ms. Yingling]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus\

This had such a good variety of stories that I am going to try to give very brief synopses of each one, along with the middle grade books that the authors have written. I love short story collections for introducing my students to new authors!

In Elise Bryant's New Rules, Maya is anxious about starting middle school, especially without her best friend, Coral, who seems to understand how everyone is supposed to act at this new educational level. After meeting the equally nervous Taylor, she realizes that everyone is a bit unsure of themselves. As I tell my middle school students frequently, "No one is looking at you! They're too worried about themselves."

Dhonielle Clayton (The Marvellers) spins a magical tale set in New Orleans, First Bite, about Bird, who is supposed to help her sisters trap humans in order to fill the blood bank. When she runs away from them, she meets a human, Cameron, and helps him get back to his grandmother without getting eaten.

Natasha Diaz's One of Those Days follows Zetta as she spends one last day in Harlem before her mother moves her away. Or is it a dream?

Tọlá Okogwu (Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun) writes about a girl who would like to sing opera, but it's not in her Ghanian immigrant parents' plans for her in An Aria for Abi. When Abi can't try out for the school opera production because she's promised her mother she won't miss track practice, her sister Jola covers for her, because she knows what it is like to give up something she loves to make her parents happy.

Sharon M. Draper's Last Chocolate Cookie is a devastatingly sad tale of Cookie, who has a great day with her twin brother, Mookie, racing bikes and being outside with friends, until is ends in tragedy. And yes, we should all wear out bike helmets EVERY TIME we get on a bike. (Blended, Stella by Starlight, many others.)

Roseanne A. Brown (Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting) takes us to Marcia Marmalade's School of Confectionery Magic in Créme de la Créme, where we meet Abby, who has gotten into trouble for blowing up a tower of macarons. The school is full of very rich students, but because Abby wanted to attend so badly, her mother took a job in the cafeteria to help with tuition. Classmate Celeste bullies other students, and when Abby's mother steps in, Celeste targets her.

Janae Marks' (From the Desk of Zoe Washington, A Soft Place to Land) Convention Girl follows Aria as she is helping her mother and sister Jade run their booth at the Natural Brand Expo. She's still hurting because her best friend Charlotte isn't talking to her since she won the science fair, but running into her idol, a STEM activist, gives her the boost she needs to believe in herself again.

Black Girl, Be by Renée Watson reminded me that she also worked on the poetry book Black Girl, You Are Atlas, along with prose titles like Some Places More Than Other. Her poems talks about all the different ways that Black girls can unapologeticallyl be a wide variety of their authentic selves.

Amerie's The House Downstairs is a rather creepy look at two girls who move into their aunt's Victorian house with their mother after their parents divorce and her father stays in Los Angeles with their halmeoni and harabeoji. Sunday and Rose start to travel into the house in their dreams, but when their mother gets stuck there, they have to help her, along with Zora and her family, escape.

Sharon Flake (Pinned) takes a look at Amore, who was elected president of her class even though she didn't really want the position in Fake President. After making the principal angry by promising her classmates a trip to an amusement park, Amore and her friend Happy manage to pull off a Seventh Grade Fun Day.

In The Witch in Apartment 2B by Karen Strong (Eden's Everdark, Just South of Home) introduces us to Cherry, who is being bullied by girls in her class. She seeks help from Miss Alice, a neighbor whom she believes to be a witch. Miss Alice gives her two ordinary tea bags to steep and drink, as well as the mantra "I am worthy and deserve to be protected from harm." Will this be enough to encourage her to speak up against the girls giving her a hard time? And is it really magic?

The subject of Black hair care is front and center in Kalyn Bayron's (The Vanquishers) Auntie Ro. While Janelle's father does a decent job of styling her hair, as she gets older, she wants different styles. Neighbor Ro works with her to teach her different ways to do her hair, encouraging her to stick up for herself and to find her own community of women.

Kekla Magoon (The Secret Library, The Season of Styx Malone) unpacks the fun and trauma of staying overnight with friends in The Sleepover. It's Cordie's first, and she's meeting new people. There are quizzes, discussions of crushes, pizza, and somewhat cruel fashion makeovers, but when it is discovered that she's brought a favorite stuffed animal with her, everyone admits that they have one too, even if they weren't brave enough to bring it.

Rice & Beans, Rhythm and Beats by Ibi Zoboi (My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich) introduces us to several girls at Clover Middle School. Beatrice is afraid to eat her Haitian food in the cafeteria until she meets Soraya, who is not going to let anyone stand in the way of her enjoying her Trinidadian fare. The two also become friends with Esther, from Ghana, and Nneka, who has a Nigerian background. The four argue about which culture's rice dish is best, and decide to try out for the school step team even though some of the girls on it seem mean.

Finally, in Leah Johnson's (Ellie Engle Saves Herself) Brave, we meet Billie, who is a scrappy ten year old hockey player who is having a lot of nose bleeds and excessive bruising. After her teacher alerts her parents, she is diagnosed with ITP, Immune thrombocytopenia, a condition that requires transfusions on globulin for a year, which means that she won't be able to play hockey. She throws a fit about this, and is ready to refuse treatment until Maggie, who is getting chemo for leukemia, convinces her otherwise.

The end of the book has nice biographies of all of the authors, along with their pictures, which will help readers who liked particular stories find other titles to pick up!

[Enchantaé]

This was the second anthology I’ve read but the first I’ve enjoyed. Although I’m reading this as an adult, it’s something I would proudly give to my younger cousin (middle school aged) because it speaks a lot on self confidence, kindness, authenticity and beauty.

[Colleen]

It was not mentioned, but I believe this is like a companion or parallel anthology to Black Boy Joy. If that is true then I prefer the set-up of Black Boy Joy, because the short stories were more interconnected to each other or they were connected. These stories did not connect to each other. I thought Kwame Mbalia's introduction had potential, but it didn't really do anything. His introduction was more of a hype man for Leah Johnson's introduction, but my question would be why does Leah Johnson's introduction need an introduction? I will say Kwame Mbalia's introduction did give a definition of power, which "...is the ability to control the narrative" (Johnson, 2024). That was interesting, because I haven't really given thought on how to define power. As I am writing this, I think of power as an "oomph". It something that propels something else whether in a physical or metaphorical sense.

In terms of the short stories, I want to highlight some of the stories. I really enjoyed Tola Okogwu's An Aria for Abi! I would love of it, if this was a full-length novel, because I wanted more! This short story I can see as a chapter or two of a larger book. Amerie's The House Downstairs was SO creepy! It was creative and interesting, but it was frightening! Kalynn Bayron's Auntie Ro reminded me of a combination of Hair Love and Stella's Stellar Hair. Rice & Beans, Rhythm & Beats by Ibi Zoboi was sweet. Leah Johnson's Brave was bittersweet and I really wanted to know what happen to Maggie. I think I do based on her described body language, but I am not certain.

Verdict: I think this was an interesting collection. I will admit that I skipped one of the short stories (First Bite), because I did not want to read about vampires. Not every story had LGBTQ+ representation, but there were a few stories that did. My favorite story had to be An Aria for Abi!

[Anna]

Black Girl Power: four stars! Enjoyable MG anthology (all short stories, except for one prose poem) that's full of empowerment. The entries range in mood, and though most are contemporary/realistic, a bit of fantasy and horror are mixed in too, so there's something for just about every reader, all contributed by a group of talented Black authors. Definitely recommended.

(Hey, since this publisher has released Black Boy Joy and Black Girl Power, any chance there could be a collection about Black enby/trans kids next?)

--Entries included, for reference:
The New Rules
First Bite
One of Those Days
An Aria for Abi
The Last Chocolate Cookie
Crème de la Crème
Convention Girl
Black Girl, Be
The House Downstairs
Fake President
The Witch in Apartment 2B
Auntie Ro
The Sleepover
Rice & Beans, Rhythm & Beats
Brave

[Raaven💖]

This book made me feel so seen and loved. The stories were powerful and adorable and some really hit hard. My favorites in the bunch were:
The Last Chocolate Cookie- Sharon M Draper
Crème de la Crème- Rosanne a Brown
Black girl, Be- Renée Watson
The Witch In Apartment 2B- Karen Strong
Auntie Ro- Kalynn Bayron (my favorite)
Brave- Leah Johnson

These stories ranged from learning to embrace yourself to standing up for what’s right. I loved the more contemporary stories. This was such a sweet anthology and I’d love to read more of these!

[Katie]

This is such a beautiful collection! A lot of times with anthologies there are some stories I don't like as much as others, but I really enjoyed each and every one of them.

I love Leah Johnson, so this was always going to be an auto-read for me, but the other featured authors also include some favorites- Renee Watson, Janae Marks, Ibi Zoboi- as well as some new faves, too! I think Auntie Ro was my absolute favorite- it reminded me a bit of Hair Love- but some of my other top faves were Rice & Beans, Rhythm & Beats; Brave; and The Last Chocolate Cookie.

[Jeni Enjaian]

This book is a collection of short stories, most of them contemporary although it does include a handful of fantastical or magical realist entries. I do not read many collections like this so I do not have a reference point. However, I really enjoyed the vast majority of the entires in this collection written by some incredibly talented authors, only a handful of whom I had not read from before but hope to rectify that soon. I loved how each author created these diverse, strong girls, powerful in their own unique ways. I highly recommend this collection.

[Alicia]

A sweet collection of short stories featuring Black girl empowerment, there is a range of story categories based on the range of the authors contributing to it. It works together well and does what it sets out to do.

My favorites included the contemplative "Black Girl, Be" by Watson, the sad "The Last Chocolate Cookie" by Draper, and the celebration of Black hair and mentorship with Bayron's "Auntie Ro".

[Jesaka Long]

Black Girl Power edited by Leah Johnson is a fantastic collection of stories by Black women. We have needed this! I plan to use it in a short story class for teens this spring and potentially in a class for adults interested in writing for younger readers. Not only are there some strong stories in this collection, it's a wonderful way to show that one story can not (should not!) represent "the" experience of any group of people.

[Libriar]

This collection of short stories by Black female authors offers a little bit of everything. I personally find it jarring to switch between genres when I read story collections, but young readers should find at least one story that resonates with them. This is a solid collection of short stories for upper elementary school readers. ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

[Valerie Anne]

4.5 rounded up because it had queer representation.

I didn't realize this was middle grade when I picked it up (I got it because I knew Kalynn Bayron had a story in it) so I was delighted by how dang SWEET all of these stories are. I'm so glad this collection exists for little Black girls everywhere.

[Jasmine]

Incredible short stories. Love the diverse angles and lessons to be learned. Empowering for young black girls struggling to find their value, worth, self, in various social settings. Recommended read.

[Liv CG]

Such a fun mix of stories. Reads very young middle grade. Far and away fav was Amerie’s The House Downstairs - very creepy!

[Karen]

Stories featuring black girls written by some of today’s most popular authors on a wide-range of topics from sleepovers to rice dishes to family and found family. Something for everyone!

[Lafcadio]

Where was this collection when I was in elementary school? Way more relatable than Judy Blume.

[Elena Butler]

Some good some bad

[Emma]

I am not, never have been and never will be, a Black girl. Hell, I haven't even identified as Female since 2020. That said, Black Girl Power was a wonderful anthology. I really enjoyed it.

[Lizzie]

*4.5 stars
What a wonderful collection of stories for pre-teens, centred around young Black girls in various situations finding power, self-identity, courage, a place of safety.

[lottie ｡꒰ঌ ✦໒꒱ ༘*.ﾟ]

This whole collection of short stories was amazing! Even though it is YA/middlegrade, I enjoyed all the stories inside, especially Auntie Ro, that one nearly made me cry my eyes out.