Vinyl Moon

November 1, 2021
After a traumatic incident with her boyfriend, Angel gets a fresh start at a new school. Darius was the first person to call Angel beautiful, but he called her other, terrible things too. After the events of a night that Angel can't forget, Darius' words are among the memories Angel carries when her mother sends her away from California to live with her uncle in Brooklyn. Worse than the memories, Angel blames herself for what happened. At her new high school, 11th grader Angel is assigned to a homeroom/advisory class entitled Her Excellence is Resilience & Honoring Everyone's Roots. Guided by their teacher, Ms. G, H.E.R. advisees work through their feelings in an encouraging environment. They deal with betrayals, young motherhood, and other challenges, but no one here is tragic. All of the novel's characters are refreshingly layered and endearing, even when they aren't at their best. As the school year progresses, Angel sees her life reflected in books by writers including Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jason Reynolds. Angel's poignant poems are interspersed among passages of compelling prose. Her community reflects a diverse array of Black cultures as well as sexual identities and personalities. A beautiful love letter to Brooklyn, Black authors, and the beats that create the soundtrack of a young life evolving. (Fiction. 14-18)

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Starred review from December 6, 2021
After a violent incident with her controlling boyfriend in California—one that ends with him “locked up” and her with a broken arm, a bruised eye, and internalized feelings of guilt—Angel’s mother sends her to live with her uncle Spence in Brooklyn. At Flatbush’s Benjamin Banneker High, Angel, who’s cued as Black, feels weighed down by shame and misses her family. She begins to find solace in her homeroom/
advisory class, “Her Excellence is Resilience & Honoring Everyone’s Roots,” with seven other teens, each facing her own struggles and pain. As the group’s bond grows, Angel finds a new love of reading Black writers (James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Walter Dean Myers) and mixing music (a situation in which “I decide the vibe”), both of which slowly address her deeper wounds. In short, sharp chapters that interweave poetry and prose, Browne (Chlorine Sky) offers snippets of Angel’s life before and after the incident, bringing readers into her growth and portraying with nuance a group of Brooklyn teens unpacking their traumas and finding their joy. Ages 14–up. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary. (Jan.)■

January 1, 2022

Gr 8 Up-Angel is uprooted suddenly from her California home after an incident with her boyfriend culminates with her arm in a sling. She is resentful of her mother, Elena, for forcing her to take on the role of the adult at home with her four younger siblings. Elena sends Angel to Brooklyn to live with her Uncle Spence, who provides love and stability when Angel needs it most. In her new school, she is placed with Mrs. G. in H.E.R Advisory, which stands for Her Excellence is Resilience and Honoring Everyone's Roots. Together the students in the group process their struggles and work towards hope and healing. For Angel, this respite includes reading books by powerful Black writers, such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Jesmyn Ward, and finding that these stories remind her of home. As she explores Brooklyn, the hip-hop history resonates with her and she creates Soundcloud playlists to honor it. The playlists add a lyrical quality to the words she is reading, and the author intertwines the two. Angel's character continually evolves in this love letter to Brooklyn and hip-hop, told in a candid combination of poetry, prose, and vignettes. She develops new friendships and grows into someone more confident. Brooklyn comes to life via places, food, clothing, and music. All of this results in Angel healing not only her arm, but her soul as she flourishes in her new environment. A content warning is advised for domestic violence. VERDICT An important asset for all school and library collections.-Lisa Krok

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January 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 Browne's latest offering explores nuanced experiences of Black girls in America. The novel's protagonist, Angel, is a California girl who, on the heels of a violent confrontation with her boyfriend, is forced to move to Brooklyn to live with her uncle. At first, Angel feels like a fish out of water in Brooklyn; everything seems to be different, including the clothes the people wear, the things they eat, and the way they talk. But soon, Angel finds a place to belong in a morning class that emphasizes the beauty of sisterhood and friendship. It is through this group that she finds the importance of vulnerability, strength in community, and a path forward in real healing. Through the use of multiple modes of both poetry and prose, the author deftly takes readers on a journey during which Angel sheds her insecurities and develops an identity outside of the one she thought she'd never escape. Browne's story is simultaneously beautiful and brutal, a true embodiment of "black girl magic."

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