#CHRISTINA HAMMONDS-REED

[slaughter-books]

Day 26: JOMPBPC: Power To The Oppressed

[literaryspinster]

Fancasting The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

This is maybe the first YA book I've read where the Black girl protagonist was actually allowed to be deeply flawed (not saying others don't exist, I just don't read a whole lot of YA). I got through it quickly and thought the writing was really strong. Here's who I pictured while reading.

Ashley- Demi Singleton

Jo- Diamond White

LaShawn- Jabari Banks

Ashley's Mom- Amanda Warren

Ashley's Dad- Laz Alonso

Lucia- Melonie Diaz

Kimberly- Lulu Wilson

Michael- Asher Angel

Harrison- Alexander Ludwig

Morgan- Storm Reid

Uncle Ronnie- Mike Epps

Heather- Stefania Lavie Owen

Courtney- Amybeth McNulty

Lana- Rowan Blanchard

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Black Kids | Author: Christina Hammonds Reed | Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2020)

[bluedalahorse]

Manor House Reading Corner: The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

What this is: I love books and I love Young Royals. I also love connecting people with books they might love too. That’s really all there is to it! In my “manor house reading corner” tag, I will be sharing forward titles that remind me of things I like about YR. Simply because this is my series of posts and I make the rules, I am specifically avoiding books that focus on characters with royal/aristocratic status or ancestry. This is probably because people are more likely to link those books to YR right away, and they don’t always line up for me in terms of what I like about YR. I will, however, try to highlight books as many books as I can with queer protagonists, as well as protagonists from other groups outside of a white/cishet/able-bodied/neurotypical “norm.” Feel free to message me if you’ve read one of these books and liked it, or if you have titles of your own you think I might enjoy. I AM HERE FOR ALL THE BOOKS.

Today’s recommendation…

Title: The Black Kids

Author: Christina Hammonds Reed

Teaser: Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. It’s the end of high school and they’re spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. They can already feel the sunny days and endless possibilities of summer. But everything changes one afternoon in April, when four police officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. As violent protests engulf LA and the city burns, Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. Even as her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. Even as the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble. Even as her best friends help spread a rumor that could completely derail the future of her classmate and fellow black kid, LaShawn Johnson. (Google Books)

What YR fans would like: Do you adore Felice? Do you wish Felice’s arc engaged with her racial identity more, or that we got to see more from her point of view? The Black Kids may be a book for you. Ashley and Felice are in many ways different, but they both attend a wealthy prep school, hang out with a predominantly white friend group with tensions running beneath the surface, and get pushed toward perfectionism by their overachiever parents. (They also both get into some messy situations with boys.) Set against the backdrop of the LA riots, The Black Kids doesn’t shy away from examining the impact of microaggressions and systemic injustices, or the intersections of the personal and political. And yet the relationships in it all feel organic, and end up in places that feel true to life by the end of the story.

Questions? Comments? Recommendations of your own? Feel free to send them my way!

[jin-jamm-desu]

#aaaaaaaaaaaaaa #i love when artists do shit like this #it mkaakes me #so happy #because it reminds me of #this book called #'the black kids' by #Christina Hammonds Reed #and she quoted someone #i forget their name #atm #and the quote is #'i am nobody- who are you?- are you nobody- nobody too?' #and now I can't take it anymore #thx

YOU ARE YOU. BUT WHO ARE YOU?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KO-FI

[rouge-reverie]

+*:ꔫ:*TBR*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

Books I have yet to read! You'll find this list is very... long..! I tend to grab any books I find vaguely interesting with no hesitation... and it leaves me with a long list of books to read!!

This list is more specifically books in my possession, as opposed to all the books I WANT to have... books I am CURRENTLY reading will be found in... well, the currently reading list :]

ꕥ The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

ꕥ A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

ꕥ The Queen's Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz

ꕥ House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

ꕥ Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

ꕥ Prelude for Lost Souls by Helene Dunbar

ꕥ All of Us Villains by C. L. Herman

ꕥ Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

ꕥ Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

ꕥ Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

ꕥ Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

ꕥ Be Not Far from Me by Mindy McGinnis

ꕥ The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

ꕥ If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin

ꕥ A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry

ꕥ The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

ꕥ A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

ꕥ Dracula by Bram Stoker

ꕥ Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan

ꕥ Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

ꕥ The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni

ꕥ The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

[a-court-of-ink-and-fire]

reflection

This semester, my writing has changed. I have spent years cultivating a writing style, but like any art form, it is ever-evolving, and before the start of the semester, I had horrible writer's block for months. This class provided helpful prompts that got my creative juices flowing, and in fact, I wrote one of my favorite pieces in this class (The Iron Fears the Rot). Outside of the course, I have also been able to pursue my personal endeavors, such as plotting out the outline of my own book and writing small pieces here and there for my friend.

There's always room for improvement in writing; while I have been at this since I was a kid, I am no exception. I love learning new things and learning ways to improve my grammar, story-telling, pacing, etc. I think there's always a way to become better as a writing, and stagnating or deciding you're "too good" for that will only hinder you as a creative. 

I love writing and have loved the art form ever since I can remember. I have been an avid reader since I first learned to read, and reading is the number 1 best way to improve one's writing skills. It's beautiful to watch how someone's mind works through their writing and how different every person's writing style is. You can draw inspiration from other types, of course, but something always makes it unique to every individual.

I loved the novel that I was assigned, The Black Kids. I'm thrilled I was given it over my first pick because it's enriched my life. Christina Hammonds-Reed has a unique writing style; every page was engaging and kept my attention. Her descriptions were so creative and drew comparisons in nature that I would never have thought of. Overall, I will reread that book a few more times. I already have it thoroughly tabbed, but I can find more things to annotate.

[rabbleboy]

See you at the Henderson Reads Book Festival April 30th

See you at the Henderson Reads Book Festival April 30th. Author presentations, book signings, interactive activities and more. See you Booth 18! #HendersonReads #kidlit #bookfestival #authorvisit #scbwi

[mydreamsarentrare]

“Close your eyes,” she said. “Hear all the layers.”

Like every song was a really good lasagna.

- The Black Kids, Christina Hammonds Reed

[starrlikesbooks]

Have a good July!

As always, more in depth horoscopes below the cut

Aries: This month finds you full of passion and determination. July has you easily finding and embracing the things you love, and going for it. This is a time of transformation and newness, which is sure to be exciting. The problem is, things like making plans or working with the changes and uncertainty are going to be difficult to get a handle on. There’s distance between you and the situation, but also between you and your bigger dreams, which may leave you feeling a bit directionless.

Taurus: You’re feeling ready to react this month. Things feel new, or getting there, this month, and you’re ready to embrace that. Your passion sparking and your ability to be vulnerable and examine your self will guide the way you act and react throughout the month. However, it’s present-tense exclusive. Issues making plans for the future or connecting to long term goals has your focus stunted directly in the here and now.

Gemini: This is a good month for you, Gemini. You’re more connected to both your emotions and intuition, and ready to follow them to interesting new adventure & ideas. You’re feeling as free spirited as ever, and above it all. You may have a desire to put a wall up, and you can expect some struggle for a while to branch out in your own opinion or point of view, but you’ll get there eventually!

Cancer: Expect an extra dose of cancer sensitivities! You’re definitely in an emotional and open place, and your connection with Mercury this month luckily helps you get it out into the world at large. You’re good at communicating your thoughts and feelings, and reaching out to others. Embrace that power!

Leo: This month the sun in your sign makes you extra confident and yourself. You’re also open minded and do well with change and uncertainty- however, the idea of endings or concrete beginnings/newness are going to make you immediately shy away. You’re focused on the present tense, enjoying the moment.

Virgo: You’re feeling super connected to your emotions this month, but especially connected to passion and love. You’re definitely ready to act, meeting your dreaminess in a way that spurs you into impassioned action. Your own connection does have an exception- you may feel more sensitive and unable or uninterested to confront that vulnerability. You’ve got a wall up, and that may cause a little friction or encourage closing yourself off.

Libra: You need to find balance in July. While you’re ready in some ways, other sections of your life are more fragile. Pull away where you need to and focus in on where things seem to require more of your time and attention. You’ve got the energy and interest to work on things, so follow the urge, but the wall that’s up between you and the future doesn’t need to be a problem unless you let it be.

Scorpio: Things are feeling a bit tense and tough this month, Scorpio. You’ve got some issues with confidence and owning your situation, as well as problems with connections and communication. But the retrograde in your sign is asking you to examine and release, so lean into that and don’t be afraid to close some doors!

Sagittarius: July finds you curious and ready to ask questions. You’re good with making connections and telling the world what you’re thinking, but you’re also having some problems with love and finding something to keep your interests. Expect to do a lot of questioning on goals and dreams, and don’t be afraid to get led somewhere else! Capricorn: Your usual ambitious nature is going to take a backseat this month, Capricorn. You’re in a much less active state in July, and less connected to others or your own interests/loves. Just let things move in the direction and at the time things are going!

Aquarius: This month the full moon in your sign has you feeling extra free spirited Aquarius energy, but also super connected to your emotions. You’re comfortable in your skin and good around people, but there’s also sure to be a bit of emotional turmoil as you sort through your feelings and motivation, and you’re not going to actually push yourself to make a real move.

Pisces: This month pushes you towards the future. You’re feeling your abilities and your own worth, and how those things can link up with your next steps or your next goal. You may have some trouble compromising with others or just communicating, but the biggest focus in this month is internal!

[the-final-sentence]

All of us work together, adding more water, more earth, digging our fingers in, building and rebuilding, until slowly it starts to look like something real.

Christina Hammonds Reed, from The Black Kids

[slaughter-books]

Day 26: JOMPBPC: Black And White

[punki-miltonia]

Ten Word Book Reviews: The Black Kids

Unique writing style, albeit slowly paced; an enjoyable read overall

[fandomforward]

Are you trying to read more? Particularly more diverse books? Join our book club! A $35 donation gets you lifetime membership.

[bluedalahorse]

Deservingness and morally complex stories, a follow up

I want to lift up and respond to an awesome comment made by @othervee on my post about the fandom and the word “deserve.” I’ll screen cap the comment first for context:

This comment intersects with some of the ideas I talk about in my MFA thesis. I’m looking at how the philosophy of restorative justice can inform writers of youth literature, and one of the central RJ principles is that every human being has worth and dignity. Innately. This idea of the “deserving poor” suggests that a select, often very wealthy few are allowed to decide who is worthy and who isn’t. It makes “worth” something that must be earned at the arbitrary whims. We all know that this can go downhill pretty quickly, playing out in austere (or worse!) political policies.

To take this into the realm of literature, the notion of characters being “deserving” sort of positions us, the readers, in the place where we are deciding who is worthy and who is not. And I don’t want to reject that instinct entirely, because I do think many writers invite us to do moral reasoning prompted by the stories they tell us. But I do think there is a marked difference between writers who build worth and dignity into the baseline of every character, versus writers who don’t.

We’ve all read stories where some characters are Worthy and some characters are Not Worthy, and the story’s moral lesson is to emulate the Worthy characters while avoiding anything connected with the Not Worthy characters. We’ve also seen stories that are perhaps less binary and a bit more nuanced, but still have an ultimate, inherently evil character to defeat as part of the third-act climax. I think these stories can be instructive up to a point—it can help readers to have a basic list of Dos and Don’ts—but they don’t always meet every need a reader can have.

I think it’s rarer to have stories where every character, be they protagonist or antagonist or sympathetic villain or antihero, is crafted with worth and dignity at their core. Nonetheless, these stories are incredibly needed, because even with lists of Dos and Don’ts on hand, people fuck up sometimes. Sometimes people fuck up spectacularly. Or, someone close to them has fucked up spectacularly and the image they had of that person is altered forever. It can hard to see a path forward in these kinds of moments, and often people want to hide instead of taking action or holding someone accountable. Seeing characters actually work through problems—not actually cleanly or perfectly, but in a way that has momentum and realness—is so important.

Here’s a small paragraph from my thesis, where I’m talking about The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed, and its protagonist Ashley Bennet:

[This kind of writing] empowers [teenagers] to make restitution to those they have harmed in their own lives. Interpersonal conflict is almost never clear-cut and easily resolved. Because Ashley's journey is neither simple nor perfectly executed, it validates the emotions of readers who may be reluctant to address their own difficult situations with friends and loved ones, while still inspiring them to action. By engaging with restitution as a complex, yet wholly possible, emotional journey, writers avoid talking down to their young readers and meet them where they are. Finally, writers who invest effort in this sort of character arc reassure their readers of a key cornerstone of restorative justice belief that they are worthy (Evans and Vaanderling 31). Restorative justice professes the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings, and in part this means that people are worthy of the chance to do better and make amends for times that they did harm.

That tells you where I’m coming from with these thoughts, and why they matter to me. I work with young people, and they fuck up. A lot. But a lot of them also struggle with the idea of restitution, because it can feel so impossible, especially in a world that’s become so polarized and puritanical, and so scrutinized by social media, and where it can feel like you have to be good and stay good 24/7, or there’s no point. You know? We want to be the heroes in our own stories, but every single one of us has been someone’s villain once in a while, too. And we need characters who help us confront this.

Naturally, my research was inspired by Young Royals, because I do think Lisa imbues worth and dignity into every single character as she creates them. Wilhelm isn’t worthy because he’s a prince, and Simon isn’t worthy because he’s a talented singer. Rather, their worth lies in their humanity itself, and when they tap into their human vulnerability, they can make progress with one another and better understand their impact on the world. Likewise, August’s tragedy as a character is that he does have inherent worth, but he fails to see it. He mistakes his status and wealth for worth instead, and ends up leaning into power games that harm others instead of acknowledging his humanity and capacity to connect. That hits harder than like, Lisa just writing him as a Vortex Of Posh Boy Evil Who Must Be Banished To The Outer Realms, you know? I know I say this a lot, and I know a lot of people will not along and go “yeah of course he’s complex.” It’s the craft reasons why he’s complex that I actually wanna break down and analyze, though, because those matter to me.

There are other stories out there that handle this kind of complexity well. ATLA is like the textbook example in animation. YA books are where I’m seeing some of the best ideas thrown around… Randy Ribay’s Patron Saints of Nothing is forever a mentor text to me for how it approaches the dynamics of a grieving family living under a dictatorship. Adib Khorram’s Darius books have some of the best, most human parent-child relationships I’ve ever seen. Malinda Lo writes messy queers and I’m honestly in awe of how she does it. Joy McCullough’s verse novels make me cry like no one else. And Zach Smedley’s Deposing Nathan, while a very difficult book to read, is such a shining example of how you can tell these kinds of stories where every character is inherently worthy, but you don’t have to end it with like, group hugs and rainbows and forgiveness everyone being on wonderful terms. Because that’s another thing about this area of research. Sometimes you talk about it and people are like “oh so you just want stories to apologize for toxic people and abusers?” And no, that’s not it at all. Not everyone does get forgiven in the stories I mentioned above, or gets away free from consequences. But for me, the resolution and catharsis in those stories has always hit harder, and helped me make meaning out of trauma from my own life better, than stories where things play out as a simple tale of good and evil, where the good triumphs in a happily ever after and the evil is summarily punished and whisked away forever.

This is getting alarmingly personal, and I have grocery shopping to do this morning, so I think I’m going to cut myself off for now. Fellow writers, where do you see the worth in your characters? What techniques do you use to approach that worth?

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

#SapphicReadathon | Day 7: Sapphic Stack

SAPPHIC: Slay The BlAck Kids Pet Pride Let Me Hear a Rhyme His HIdeous Heart Cinderella is Dead