Brief Book Review: All Boys Aren't Blue

Recommendation: Essential reading for all queer black folx

Reading Time: Took me about two days (start and stop), and I read along with the audiobook on Scrib’d

Bought it From: Amazon

Major Themes: Bullying, Gender Identity, Family Trauma, Rising Above All That

This one probably won’t be as brief as I’d like, but I don’t care. This book was literally sent from above. So many times in my life have I never felt centered within the pages of a book. I never really felt like any of my experiences mattered. George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue, completely shattered those ideas for me. This book talks about abuse, gender identity, and the impacts of family on our development. This book is so special to me, and I’m so happy we’re in a time and place as a society where we can allow these and other stories from queer black authors to take the book shelves.

One of my favorite parts in this book is where George takes the opportunity to give himself closure from his abuser who is now deceased. It is that raw telling of a story that was held so closely that gave me the courage to start my blog again and tell my story.

I reached out to Johnson via Twitter to tell them thank you for this book. It’s so necessary, and is a powerful testament to the necessity of stories like these in mainstream conversations.

I could go on, but this is supposed to be brief, and I’ll let you read the book to find out why it’s so special to me. Enjoy.