BLURB:

Written as a collection of vignettes and poetry, The Unboxing of a Black Girl is a creative nonfiction reflection on Black girlhood. The debut YA title, by award-winning author Angela Shanté, is a love letter to Black girls set in New York City and serves as a personal and political critique of how the world raises Black girls.

As Shanté navigates the city through memory, she balances poetry with vignettes that explore the innocence and joy of childhood eroded by adultification. Through this book, she illuminates the places where Black girls are nurtured or exploited in stories and poems about personal and political boxes, love, loss, and sexual assault. Many entries are also studded with cultural footnotes designed to further understanding.

MY THOUGHTS:

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to review this book. The Unboxing of a Black Girl by Angela Shante is a beautiful but weighty collection of poetry. The majority of the poems in this collection deeply resonated with me, focusing on the experiences of Black Girlhood and Womanhood. Angela effectively conveyed her personal experiences through her art. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of footnotes to provide further context on the places, people, and topics referenced in her collection. It’s worth mentioning her reference to THE WHIZ, a cult classic, and the inspiration it provided for a few of her poems. The collection delves into various themes, including the loss of innocence, being raised by a single mother, the significance of community, pop culture, identity, and the experience of receiving a perm, among others. As a Black Woman, I found the content to be quite profound, despite the brevity of the poems. Overall, I consider it to be a strong 4-star read. I believe that my African American Literature professors would have found this book compelling, especially during my college years.

I strongly advise adding this to your TBR list for this year. The book will be released on May 7th!