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Articles by Junauda Petrus
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them Book Review
age 14+ Teen girls fall in love, face death in breathtaking tale. Parents need to know that The Stars and the Blackness Between Them was named a 2020 Coretta Scott King (Author) Honor Book. Itis a work of magical-realism about two teen girls who fall in love, and how their relationship grows after one of them receives a life-threatening diagnosis.
Mariyka Foster’s children’s book pokes at gender norms
This story was originally published by ArtsATL. In ”Leo and the Pink Marker” (Peachtree Publishing), Atlanta author Mariyka Foster takes young readers on a journey of the life-changing magic of color in a drab world. In its pages, we feel the dimensions of color psychology activate in the hands of a small Black boy in the junkyard owned and operated by his white mom and East Asian mama.
Feeding Souls for True Community Safety
One fall day, at the beginning of the new millennium, during a mental health spiral, he was shot down by Minneapolis police in his driveway. Over the years I would chant the names in protest of the deaths of countless Black people who would meet the same fate as Abuka: Amadou, Trayvon, Amir, Sandra, Breonna, Ahmad, Jamar, Eric, Philando, George. Names that loom in my chest with love and ancestral reverence.
Beautiful adventures
'Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight' By Shannon Gibney, illustrated by Charly Pwalmer (University of Minnesota Press, $17.95, ages 5 to 9) If food is love, what people does Sam love the most? His African American mother, who likes pizza and tacos and wants Sam to like them, too? Or his father and aunt, Liberian born, who prefer to-rbogee soup and who urge Sam to try it? Sam loves them all — his family and their foods — and he doesn't want to play favorites.
8 picture books by Minnesota writers take young readers into a diverse world
'Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight' By Shannon Gibney, illustrated by Charly Palmer. (University of Minnesota Press, $17.95, ages 5-9.) If food is love, who does Sam love the most? His African American mother, who likes pizza and tacos and wants Sam to like them, too? Or his father and aunt, Liberian born, who prefer torbogee soup and who urge Sam to try it Sam loves them all — his family and their foods — and he doesn't want to play favorites.
10 books to empower your LGBTQ+ child or teen Original
As battles continue to be waged over issues of representation and equal rights, one space that provides safe haven and visibility to young people currently merits vigilant protection: literature. Regardless of race, gender, and sexual orientation, books have long served as a sanctuary for marginalized communities, providing a refuge where voices that were once silenced can rise and be heard.
A Summer Solstice Spell for Prideteenth
A note from adrienne maree brown: Junauda is a delicious person who makes every conversation a space of revelation.
10 books to read in honor of Freedom to Learn National Day of Action
May 3, 2023, is the #FreedomtoLearn National Day of Action. In response to the growing threat of censorship within the American education system, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and organizations nationwide, like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), are coming together to defend truth and protect the freedom to learn.
Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia
Federico Erebia, illus. by Julie Kwon. Levine Querido, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-64614-304-7 In this luminous semi-autobiographical debut, told across five parts starting in the late 1960s, Erebia shares interconnected stories that render fictionalized versions of himself and his younger brother.
Why Did the Monster Cross the Road?
R.L. Stine, illus. by Marc Brown. Orchard, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-3388-1525-2 In the setup to this jokey picture book, two monsters sit on a tree branch overhanging water. The smaller monster, Hunny, a fluffy horned creature with a red handbag, is feeling “sad and grumpy.” So the bigger monster, Funny, who sports gator-like eyes and an orange vest, launches into a barrage of jokes, each one enacted in a vignette (“Why did the monster take out one hundred books from the library?
Secret of the Moon Conch
David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall. Bloomsbury, $19.99 (464p) ISBN 978-1-54-760989-5 Two Mexican teens in separate timelines fall in love via a magical conch shell in this sweeping fantasy by Bowles (They Call Her Fregona) and McCall (Echoes of Grace). In 1521 Tenochtitlan, Calizto, a 17-year-old orphan, contends with Spanish colonizers.
The Probability of Everything
The Probability of Everything After learning that an asteroid is set to destroy Earth, a sixth grader builds a time capsule to commemorate her family in this pensive read from Everett (How to Live Without You). With her parents and younger sister Lo, 11-year-old Nigerian American Kemi Carter, an aspiring scientist obsessed with probability statistics, makes up one of the few Black families living in a predominantly white neighborhood.
In the Night Garden
Using finely cut paper shapes to create a striking sequence of collaged spreads, Berger (A Curious Menagerie) meditates on the magic that unfolds around an ordinary house at night. Alongside a black cat, a gingham-clad child portrayed with brown skin stares up at the sky in an early spread: “In the night garden, you can lie on the cool grass and look up to the millions and trillions of stars.” But it’s the cat that subsequently threads its way through most of the book’s spreads.
Those Who Saw the Sun: African American Oral Histories from the Jim Crow South
Jaha Nailah Avery. Levine Querido, $19.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-64614-244-6 Beginning with the African proverb “when an elder dies, a library burns,” debut author Avery interviews 10 Black elders from various locations in the American South to develop this powerful collection of firsthand historical accounts of growing up during the Jim Crow era.
Wishing Season by Anica Mrose Rissi
Anica Mrose Rissi. Quill Tree, $18.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-06-325890-7 After her twin brother, Anders, dies of a sudden infection following a cancer diagnosis, 11-year-old Lily Neff “folded herself into his absence” until she finds him lingering near the tire swing in their Maine island’s woods, “real and present and hers” but invisible to everyone else.
The Red Jacket by Bob Holt
Bob Holt. HarperCollins, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-323760-5 Embodying a Charlie Brown mien, Bob the seagull wanders off solo while the rest of the seagull gang hangs out gabbing. Subsequent vignettes show the bird longing to join a pile-up of crabs and looking on enviously at a cozy readaloud.
House Party by
Editor and contributor reynolds (It’s The End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit) brings together 10 authors, including Angeline Boulley, Ryan La Sala, and Randy Ribay, to deliver an exuberant novel about an intersectionally diverse group of teenagers enjoying their last house party before graduation.
The Order of Things
Kaija Langley. Penguin/Paulsen, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-59353-090-0 Langley (When Langston Dances) explores communal grieving and found family in this middle grade debut, a layered novel in verse. With her “best and only true friend” Zee Ellis admitted to study violin at a Boston STEAM charter school, 11-year-old April Jackson enters sixth grade determined to fulfill her own musical dreams by taking drum lessons with Zee’s dad.
Explorative Black Tarot: A Black Queer Feminist Practice in Creative Writing and Oracle
Author: Junauda Petrus February 21, 2023 When I shuffle my cards, there is a palpable feeling of anticipation and possibility I feel within me. Tarot cards are the perfect kind of softness and tangible in my hand, their humming electricity is potent. There are tingles in my body as I hover my palm over the cards splayed out, like berries to be picked, like oracle, like a rainbow of tickets each with their own journey, a story to tell me, a message to portend.
Explorative Black Tarot: A Black Queer Feminist Practice in Creative Writing and Oracle
When I shuffle my cards, there is a palpable feeling of anticipation and possibility I feel within me. Tarot cards are the perfect kind of softness and tangible in my hand, their humming electricity is potent. There are tingles in my body as I hover my palm over the cards splayed out, like berries to be picked, like oracle, like a rainbow of tickets each with their own journey, a story to tell me, a message to portend.
Get Into These Inspiring Books By Queer Black Authors
MadameNoire Featured Video When policies put limitations on them and businesses shut their doors to them, queer people always had the pen as their last weapon to fight for their rights. From secret periodicals to anonymous authors, the queer community has made sure that their stories and voices were heard – even when the mainstream media didn’t want them to be.
Reese’s Book Club
Leah Johnson, the author of You Should See Me In A Crown (Aug '20 YA Pick) and Rise To The Sun, shares five of her favorite books to read during Pride Month and beyond that should be on your summer reading list. This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron Kalynn's debut, Cinderella is Dead was one of my absolute favorite reads of 2020, and this time she's back with a sophomore fantasy about familial legacies, dark forces, and Black girls wielding great power that absolutely does not disappoint.
Realistic Relationships
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12 young adult books to read written by Black authors
click to enlarge 1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo I've noticed a trend on bookstagram, aka book Instagram. On top of the influx of readers looking to pick up books from Black authors, many have been turning to the Young Adult genre. This could be for any number of reasons, but my guess is that YA is light but powerful, enthralling yet easy to read. You can take a lot away from a book geared towards teens, but the stories are a great escape from our current daunting and heavy reality.
Review & Giveaway: The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them is lyrical and downright stunning. I made a grave mistake letting this sit on my TBR instead of reading it the day I bought it.
MOLARÁ + Feminist Book Club giveaway
It appears your browser cookies are disabled. Please enable them or use a different browser to enter. Enter with your email address or facebook: I want to hear about more free giveaways! MOLARÁ and Feminist Book Club have teamed up to bring you a fabulous giveaway to celebrate strong women.
Bingeworthy: Young Adult Books Edition
As schools, conventions, concerts, and everything else gets cancelled due to COVID-19, it can be difficult to stay busy when schedules are suddenly opening up. Reading can be a great way to pass the time while you’re stuck at home, so we’ve compiled a list of page-turning books to help take your mind off things for awhile. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus Cover design by Samira Iravani. Art by Charles Chaisson.
THE STARS AND THE BLACKNESS BETWEEN THEM
Narrator Bahni Turpin and author Junauda Petrus hit it out of the park with their pitch-perfect performances of this love story between two black teenage girls from different backgrounds. In a lilting Trinidadian accent full of spirit and warmth, Turpin voices Audre, who is sent from her native country to live with her dad in the U.S. after her mother finds her with another girl. Petrus is equally good as Mabel, whose life is turned upside down by a terminal diagnosis.
Sexuality explored in ‘The Stars and the Blackness Between Them’
Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Published 11:50 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2019 From the opening words of her first young-adult novel — “Yuh fas’ and arrow and sensual and mango” —local filmmaker and writer Junauda Petrus casts readers into a dreamy and poetic space that connects Caribbean and Midwest. Sixteen-year-old Audre has upset her religious mother in Trinidad by falling in love with another girl.
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (Hardcover)
$17.99 Available In Our Warehouse Description A Coretta Scott King Honor Book Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus's bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both. Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them (Hardcover)
Description A Coretta Scott King Honor Book Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus's bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both. Port of Spain, Trinidad.
THE STARS AND THE BLACKNESS BETWEEN THEM
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