A Celebration of Black Boy Joy

What do talking lizards, jet packs, superheroes, and dinosaurs have in common? Well, normally not much, but these and much more can all be found in an incredible collection of stories, poems, and comics called Black Boy Joy, which was edited by one of my favorite authors, Kwame Mbalia. The anthology is filled with seventeen unique short works by seventeen Black male and nonbinary authors, including one by Mbalia himself.

Some of the stories are literally out of this world while others are closer to home; some are filled with actual magic while others celebrate the familiar magic within our day-to-day lives. And while each piece might display a range of emotions, every one of them, as you can probably guess, contains a healthy sprinkling of pure joy. Seriously, expect to laugh, grin, maybe even cry with happy tears. (I’m not embarrassed to say I did all these things while reading this book.)

Should you choose to pursue this adventure, you can expect to find: Games and competitions on Earth and off-world. Music. Sports. A museum trip. A plane ride. Incredible creatures. And Black boys discovering the joys of family, the joys of friend new and old, the joy of their first love, and the joy within themselves.

One cannot help but fall in love with the characters and the worldbuilding even though each piece is only a few pages long. That, of course, points to the talent of the amazing authors themselves. So if you finish this book and find yourself wanting more, maybe check out their other work. I sure intend to.